The cracks in old friendships are measured in awkward pauses.

Regret doesn't budge things; it seems crazy that the force of all that human want can't amend a moment, can't even stir a pebble.

Things don't go away. They become you.

When you know you are dying, self-deceptions fly from your bedside like embers off a bonfire.

I think each family has a funhouse logic all its own, and in that distortion,in that delusion, all behavior can seem both perfectly normal and crazy.

Passion and platonic friendliness, often contrary siblings, frequently wear similar faces to hide the great distance between them.

A tragedy's first act is crowded with supporting players: witnesses crimping their faces, policemen scribbling in pads and making radio calls, EMS guys unfolding equipment, tubes and wheels.

Love wasn't a thing you fell in, but rose to. It was what stopped you from falling.

Sometimes one learns too early, as I did, what the world is capable of.

Diminish the influence of fate

At home in bed that first night I had patchy, mundane dreams about normal things. It would be nobler and less uncomfortable to write that I tossed sleeplessly.

A change of style is a change of meaning.

Put aside ambition for public recognition, and simply do what you do because it feels good inside.

I'll never pay above the odds for something if there's a more cost-effective alternative, so I guess that's where the saver in me shines through.

Our life experiences area result of where our attention takes us.

There are so many forms, I believe people are bright enough to make their own laws, more subtle ones than we've had before.

Everything that's born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped.

You've been doing something bad since the moment you met me, lass.

Think of things not as they are, but as they might be. Don't merely dream- but create.

When I'm on a break from writing, I'll log on to Amazon and eBay. The doorbell is constantly being rung by deliverymen.

Death is the justification of all the ways of the Christian, the last end of all his sacrifices, the touch of the Great Master which completes the picture.