If God resides anywhere ... surely he shelters behind barricades of pure chance.

Sometimes I think that novelists suffer from P.C.S.: Perpetual Childhood Syndrome.

Sin is absence of God. Nothing more, nothing less.

The speed of the human mind is remarkable. So is its inability to face the obvious.

You can tell nothing from a man's appearance, nothing except the depths of your own prejudice.

Faith is the enemy of discovery.

Most of those people who saw themselves as literary types at university became bank managers.

She knows what it is to be sad and miserable, but those emotions are almost enjoyable. They throw moments of happiness and laughter into sharper relief.

To lose a problem, do not oppose, let go of any need to control, perhaps it's all an illusion we project, more like a game we play than real?

As Paul Tillich put it, suffering introduces you to yourself and reminds you that you are not the person you thought you were.

Take care of the small circle around you. When you have succeeded with them, then move outwards, one small step at a time.

Immigrants used to come to America seeking freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom from government. Now they come looking for free health care, free education, and a free lunch.

Don't pointless things have a place, too, in this far-from-perfect world? Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life, and it'd lose even its imperfection.

Reading has always been the largest and most irreplaceable pleasure for Vincent; reading about other people's successes and failures, joys and sufferings seemed to bury his own failures.

It's not like I want someone to treat me badly. I want somebody who looks like they could treat me badly, but then really treats me good.

Running is always an exercise in humility.

No one lives like a robot. We all make choices from the moment we wake up in the morning.

That hurt we embrace becomes joy. Call it to your arms where it can change.