“If there is a soul, then it is a mistake to think that it is given to us completely created. It is created right here for a lifetime. Life is nothing but a long, painful process of creation.”

“Almost nothing beautiful or brilliant happens unless a person has thought about it a lot.”

“Even your sweetest character has claws, no matter how well they may be retracted and hidden (hidden even from herself).”

“Typically, we start out with enthusiasm and then grow unsure--sometimes about everything.”

“A key to a long, productive writing life is finding ways to support that life, emotionally and existentially.”

“Because of our fear that we are merely excited matter and the consequent grudge that we hold against the universe, we feel lost and alienated, like a refugee far from home in a universe that cares nothing for us.”

“If there is a soul, then it is a mistake to think that it is given to us completely created. It is created right here for a lifetime. Life is nothing but a long, painful process of creation.”

“The result may be important but it’s not the actual measure. The measure is the feeling you have made contact with something.”

“The song you write may be beautiful, the research you conceive may be beautiful, but you are the real beauty in life.”

“A writer sets up his own amazing experiment: his work of fiction.”