Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you - it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

You can no more make someone tell the truth than you can force someone to love you.

Old age isn't a battle; old age is a massacre.

The horror of being caged has lost its thrill.

I have a slogan I use when I get anxious writing, which happens quite a bit: ‘the ordeal is part of the commitment.’ It’s one of my mantras. It makes a lot of things doable.

When the whole world doesn't believe in God, it'll be a great place.

Because that is when you love somebody - when you see them being game in the face of the worst. Not courageous. Not heroic. Just game.

The danger with hatred is, once you start in on it, you get a hundred times more than you bargained for. Once you start, you can't stop.

I...will never...regret you.

You look beautiful - David

Turning my head so I can look into his eyes, I strum my fingers across his cheek. “You’re right. I think we’ve both had enough darkness. I want to live in light.

ATHEIST is really a thoroughly honest, unambiguous term, it admits of no paltering and no evasion, and the need of the world, now as ever, is for clear-cut issues and unambiguous speech.

I've been thanking God for you being there. For you risking your life for Dove. I'll never forget it, Tyler. I'll never forget you...." "Truth is, Lily, I'll never forget you either.

Sometimes you move publicly, sometimes privately. Sometimes quietly, sometimes at the top of your voice.

Without you my air tastes like nothing. For you I hold my breath.

He decided in favor of life out of sheer spite and malice.

A god that created the world and then walked off the site leaving it to its own devices is not a fit object of worship, nor a source of moral authority.