We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish.

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.

The PC principle is to always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.

The well bred contradict other people. the wise contradict themselves.

I have made it a rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up, but I don't see how I can ever trust any human being again.

My parents have one rule for me: I can't do any of this if I have any C's on my report card.

Selling real estate isn't like selling stock.

Not to follow the advice of our confessor is pride and a want of faith.

If things are easy for us, then they are not lessons, but things we already know.

Wisdom is dead. Long live information.

I don't see the point of being an actor and doing the same thing, all the time. Where's the challenge there?

Technology is nothing but an expression of human values. It's not neutral, it's not about efficiency, it's about people's values and their knowledge.