I'm a very old-fashioned novelist. I write 19th-century novels, where a lot of rules apply.

Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.

Never confuse faith, or belief — of any kind — with something even remotely intellectual.

Keep passing the open windows.

Half my life is an act of revision.

You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else.

I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to be an actor or a writer, you better have a thick skin.

It is hard work and great art to make life not so serious.

If you don't feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn't very vital.

. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .

New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.

There's nothing more toxic or deadly than a human child. A single touch could kill you.

I would lose him a thousand lifetimes over if it meant I got the chance to love him a thousand times. And have him love me back.If only for a little while.

I thought of the pieces of me I'd left behind, a piece here, a piece there, scattered like bread crumbs. How much of me was left?

Muses work all day long and then at night get together and dance.

I'm an old-fashioned guy... I want to be an old man with a beer belly sitting on a porch, looking at a lake or something.

I love all waste and solitary places.

Let us put theology out of religion. Theology has always sent the worst to heaven, the best to hell.

It's less frustrating if someone recognizes me for it [ Pretty Reckless ]; it's more frustrating that I still get asked about it.

When I'm writing, I look like a fool because the parts are moving through me and I'm crying and laughing and making faces.