“Fate isnt one straight roadthere are forks in it, many different routes to different ends. We have the free will to choose the path.”

“You won't find the truth of life in morbidity, only in hope.”

“She never had much in this life, but with the simplest things, she made her corner of the world as beautiful as any king's palace. We may lack riches, but the greatest fortune is what lies in our h...”

“You can con God and get away with it, Granny said, if you do so with charm and wit. If you live your life with imagination and verve, God will play along just to see what outrageously entertaining ...”

“Of course, in the process, you must never do harm to others in any serious way, or you'll cease to amuse Him. Then payment comes due for promises you didn't keep.”

“Her eyes were clear; she hadn't been crying. She was a cop's wife first, a woman second; she wouldn't give in to tears as long as Wyatt was fighting for his life because she was fighting with him i...”

“People appear like angels until you hear them speak. You must not rush to judge people by the colour of their cloaks, but by the content of their words!”

“Your truth is what you can make your own mind believe. Be careful! Believe only that which is your truth and not that which has been said to you.”

“The phrases I am not has a great creative power. When you tell yourself I am not, remember you have just created something. Be careful of whom you say you are not; you will never be such a person! ...”

“My family has always believed that when we are faced with large and apparently impossible problems, the best solutions are found by the insane people, not the sensible ones.”

“Writers have a well-deserved reputation for being eccentric. Everything you've heard is true.”

“Writers are, as a profession, nothing if not eccentric.”

“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for t...”

“You know Balbec so well - do you have friends in the area?'I have friends wherever there are companies of trees, wounded but not vanquished, which huddle together with touching obstinacy to implore...”

“Things that matter are not easy. Feelings of happiness are easy. Happiness is not. Flirting is easy. Love is not. Saying youre friends is easy. Being friends is not.”