What I miss today more than anything else - I don't go to church as much anymore - but that old-time religion that old singing that old praying which I love so much. That is the great strength of my being of my writing.

The trouble with anyone when they're unhappy or in a relationship they recognize is not working but don't know what to do about is that they can't see farther out than that. If the relationship is not working if what was there isn't there anymore you have to do something about it.

When a relationship doesn't work anymore it's terrible to stay with someone that you don't love.

I've always believed in people's capacity for goodness. I still believe that people are good. What I'm not so trusting about anymore is their relationship to their own goodness.

People don't believe in positive changes anymore.

The sheep-people don't think for themselves anymore. You can say anything and it's the gospel truth and they don't have to go research it or anything and they believe everything the news tells them. People don't go and do their own investigations if it's relationships or politics or anything.

The term 'the American Left' is as near to being meaningless or nonsensical as any term could really be in politics. It isn't really a force in politics anymore. And it would do well to ask itself why that is.

And I know I'm supposed to feel guilty for wanting people to buy my books... and books in general? Novels and poetry they belong to the realm of art. How dirty of us to try to hawk art! But after a decade of hand-wringing and apologies I can't quite muster the guilt anymore.

I certainly derived my skills as a prose writer from my scrutiny of poetry and of the individual word. But schools don't do things like that anymore - tracking words down to their roots.

When His Holiness won the Nobel Peace Prize there was a quantum leap. He is not seen as solely a Tibetan anymore he belongs to the world.