I think each writer has to seek her most energetic prose style. She has to find a way to write so that nobody can deny it.

I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

Developing our sympathetic compassion is not only possible but the only reason for us to be here on earth.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

It's a big world, and I really like it.

Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.

The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?

Kindness, it turns out, is hard - it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include . . . well, EVERYTHING.

Music originated from God and was created solely for his worship, his glory, and his pleasure.

Funny how "question" contains the word "quest" inside it, as though any small question asked is a journey through briars.

Just like the poles of a magnet, some people are drawn to death and others are repulsed by it, but we all have to deal with it.

Technology breeds crime and we are constantly trying to develop technology to stay one step ahead of the person trying to use it negatively.

The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.

I love my country and I love my league.

The goal in life is to discover that you’ve always been where you were supposed to be.

We all waited on an afterlife. Only I planned to be alive for mine.

I recorded this album in a windowless room in Brooklyn by myself. I think Chamber of Reflection sums the album up better than Salad Days to tell you the truth.

I think the perception of wealth and power is that things just become easier and easier when in reality as you raise the stakes things become more stressful.