“The desire to write well can never be fulfilled without hard work.”

“It's so damn hard to bloom... to change. Even when you want to change, want it more than anything in the world, it's hard. Desire to change isn't enough. Or desperation. Couldn't be done without...love,”

“People who go to work every day, make sacrifices to raise families, and get through life without hurting other people if they can help it-those are the real heros.”

“I don't write a quick draft and then revise; instead, I work slowly page by page, revising and polishing.”

“Their lovemaking was different from any Ryan had known, rich with desire for a perfect union, yet without lust, giving without taking, receiving without wanting. Tender, selfless, almost innocent, this was a sweet commemoration of all they had been to each other to this point in time, to this fulcrum of their lives, and it was a solemnization of a commitment to be two in one henceforth, to be as one, always one, one forever.”

“Without trust, there can be no tranquil resting of the mind.”

“I can do what I need to do. I can get where I want to go, no matter how hard it is.”