The idea of inclusion has become kind of a stone that we've passed our hand over so many times that it doesn't mean anything.

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.

No more good must be attempted than the nation can bear

But grief is the ultimate unrequited love. However hard and long we love someone who has died, they can never love us back. At least that is how it feels...

If theres a sustainable job that will create sustainable value, people will hire for it.

I figured that I'm going to bring my own version of Billy Flynn and do my very best with it and let it go.

He--the country parson--is not witty or learned or eloquent, but holy.

The people you listen to are a preview of the future you.

I've always been - you know, my personality is motivating and encouraging. And so I'm just being who God made me to be.

Only the dead have no troubles.

Don't get too comfortable. It's not over until I say it is. -A

Don't live your life as though you were measuring it with a ruler.