“After sex, after coffee, after everything there is to be said --The hovering and beautiful alphabet as we form our first words after making love.And somehow I'm still alive.”

“Huddled around the fire of the alphabet...”

“It's an honor and privilege to be next to the great mysteries, and that's what I get to do every day. Why are we here? How beautiful the Earth is. Whatever it is, large and small. There's so much that's beautiful and moving and sad, to experience that and find shapes for it, to deeply enter that meditative space. There's nothing like it. Everything else seems so pale.”

“As if thought were not our most passionate, our most ardent aspect.”

“One loves art more than life; it's better than life, don't you think, Ali? It doesn't disappoint so," she sighed. "It's not so frightening," she said, her eyes filled with terror.”

“How I love them. How good they are. They endure endless hours of me talking about the future. They keep me near and at the same time bid me farewell. That is what real love is.”

“I believe in books.”