“I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.”

“For me, if I have writer’s block it means I know that what I am writing is not working quite right and I need to go back and fix what is not right. And once I do that I can write onward. Sometimes writer’s block is just I’m in a funk that day and my writing just isn’t working. In that case I write anyway and then throw it away. You can always write. Writer's block is 'I can't write because what I'm writing is crap.”

“Faith means that it doesn't matter what happens. You can trust that somebody is watching. Trust that somebody will make it all right.”

“You're a very difficult person to manipulate, you know.""Nonsense," he said. "You just have to promise me that I won't have to do a thing, and then I'll do anything you want.""Anything?""Anything that doesn't require doing anything.""That's nothing, then.""Is it?""Yes.""Well, that's something.”

“I spent years in a graduate literature program learning what makes great writing, and the only conclusion we came to was that the future of graduate literature programs was safe because nobody is ever going to agree on what makes great writing.”

“That's kind of what trust is, isn't it? A willful self-delusion.”

“I like words. And I always learn a few new ones when Father gets angry. I shouldn't neglect my education, now should I?”