“I love the idea of real-life experiences finding their way into fiction. I think that's really cool.”

“Pittsburgh felt like the perfect size of a city to me. There's enough to do, but it's not like living in a circus. I also really loved how sports-enthusiastic Pittsburgh people are: how proud of th...”

“I worked for a big department store, and strangely, on my first day, they put me in charge of Christmas wrapping. I didn't know how to wrap a present and make it not look like it fell off a truck.”

“Everything is a learning process: any time you fall over, it's just teaching you to stand up the next time.”

“I did my holy communion, and it was amazing how quickly the stories of the Bible and God and Jesus got under my skin.”

“Every job leaves its residue, a bit of extra knowledge, a new skill-set.”

“The constant reprimands made me hyperconscious of my own performance, and so instead of getting rid of self, I had become embedded in the egoism I was supposed to transcend. Now I was beginning to ...”

“Silence is the mother of truth.”

“Silence is a powerful tool.”

“Move to a new country and you quickly see that visiting a place as a tourist, and actually moving there for good, are two very different things.”

“A five-hour flight works out to three days and nights on land, by rail, from sea to shining sea. You can chalk off the hours on the back of the seat ahead. But seventy-some hours will not seem so l...”

“The impoverished always try to keep moving, as if relocating might help.”

“Some days it is a heroic act just to refuse the paralysis of fear and straighten up and step into another day.”

“Only the gentle are ever really strong.”

“Before You Begin Writing Your Book, Ask Yourself A Very Important Question: What Kind of Results Do I Plan To Receive From Writing This Book? If You Say Money, Then Don't Bother Even Writing The Book.”