“I knew that suffering can purify, that it's a kind of fire that can be worth enduring, but there were degrees of it to which I chose not to subject myself.”

“When I was no longer of the world, I would miss its extravagant beauty. I would miss the complex and charming layers of subterfuge by which the truth of the world's mysteries were withheld from us ...”

“Such grief might be to them quite delicious, a delicacy.”

“...on a subconscious level we're aware that time isn't enduring, that it is not a required condition of our existence, that there comes a point when we will have no need of it.”

“That I had come full circle shouldn't have surprised me, for we are born into time only to be born out of it, after living through the cycles of the seasons, under stars that turn because the world...”

“Small-town boy meets big-time evil.”

“As I turned to leave the tent, she said, "Don't worry. Your own mother wouldn't know you."I said, "She never has.”

“You need to understand that you are not your appearance or your body”

“Women do not give a very favorable estimate of their appearance”

“It is complexes that prevent women with a good appearance from adequately assessing themselves”

“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.”

“The point, I decided, wasn't to have the autobiography or even the memories. The point was who I became when I wrote.”

“The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but act...”