Culture is a slingshot moved by the force of its past.

my own relationships with the animals in my life are absurdly complex: Some I love, some I eat, and the scraps left over from the ones I eat, I feed ….

There is a strange moment in time, after something horrible happens, when you know it's true, but you haven't told anyone yet..

So one time when I was working in this motel one of the toilets leaked and I had to replace the flapper ball. Here's what it said on the package; I k….

But Anatole said suddenly, 'Don't expect God's protection in places beyond God's dominion. It will only make you feel punished. I'm warning you. When….

It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time..

A good title holds magic, some cognitive dissonance, a little grit between the teeth, but above all it is the jumping-off place into wonder..

I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written..

The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away..

Sometimes I prayed for Baby Jesus to make me good, but Baby Jesus didn't..

the novel is inherently a political instrument, regardless of its subject. It invites you - more than invites you, induces you - to live inside anoth….

Literature sucks you into another psyche. So the creation of empathy necessarily influences how you'll behave to other people..

People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs after rabbits will dream of rabbits. It's what you do that makes y….

The loudest sound on earth, she thought, is a man with nothing to do..

It is harrowing for me to try to teach 20-year-old students, who earnestly want to improve their writing. The best I can think to tell them is: Quit ….

Pure and unblemished souls must taste very bland, with an aftertaste of bitterness..

Oh, mercy. If it catches you in the wrong frame of mind, the King James Bible can make you want to drink poison in no uncertain terms..

All of the promises of politicians, generals, madmen, and crusaders that war can create peace have yet to be borne out..

It seems very safe to me to be surrounded by green growing things and water..

My worst nightmare is being stuck somewhere with nothing to read..

A breeze shook rain out of new leaves onto their hair, but in their pursuit of eternity they never noticed the chill..