“It’s the glitches and twists, I thought, that make this universe unique and compelling. Without flaws, there would beno depth, no substance.”

“The compelling thing about making art - or making anything, I suppose - is the moment when the vaporous, insubstantial idea becomes a solid there, a thing, a substance in a world of substances.”

“Wouldn’t you much rather be unique? It’s your flaws that make you different. You should embrace them.”Aries Taylor to his heroine, Jaxx Gavin, in Stare Me Down.”

“I simply came to believe that one, the factual circumstances of my life were almost accidental and didn't grow out of my own soul, and two, I possessed something unique, a special strength and depth of feeling that would allow me to withstand the hurt and injustice without being broken by it”

“I actually thought and believed that the story would be compelling enough to cause a real sea change in the way Congress reacted to that issue. I thought they would be startled, too. And they weren't.”

“The silence in the room had width, height, depth, mass and substance.”