...because when you're young, you don't really believe you'll ever be anything other than young.

Being a teacher at a restaurant in the town where you lived was a little like being a TV star.

While it's true that some writers, when taking on love and war, find the task too big, or only succeed in one but not the other, Mengestu tracks both themes with authority and feeling.

Good writing is good writing, and I'm so happy when I read it.

You had only one chance for a signature in life, but most people left no impression.

The child who was happy with herself meant the parents had won the jackpot.

For me, a novel relying too heavily on a single idea might be a dry, deadly thing unless it possesses an animating force.

People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness.

After a certain age, you felt a need not to be alone. It grew stronger, like a radio frequency, until finally it was so powerful that you were forced to do something about it.

Wasn't the whole point of being an artist, or at least part of it, that you didn't have to wear a tie?

The generation that had information, but no context. Butter, but no bread. Craving, but no longing.

My mother was always in the center of her own agitation, seeming as though, far away, part of her was being chased along a dirt road by a swarm of bees.

The victorious ones have saidThat emptiness is the relinquishing of all views.For whomever emptiness is a view, That one has achieved nothing.

The Navy is much more than a job; much more than service to country. It is a way of life. It gets in your blood.

No daintie flowre or herbe that growes on grownd, No arborett with painted blossoms drest And smelling sweete, but there it might be fownd To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al arownd.

He who is upright in his way of life and free from sin.

You don't want to watch classics with me 'cause I'm constantly writing notes.

Don't worry kids, you'll find work. After all, my machine will need strong chess player-programmers. You will be the first.

When of a gossiping circle it was asked, "What are they doing?" The answer was, "Swapping lies.

You know, I think whatever a comic talks about onstage is all they talk about offstage.

Pentagon records show that at least 8,000 members of the all-volunteer U.S. Army have deserted since the Iraq war began. Hey, at least somebody has an exit strategy.