“History doesn't repeat itself, but it harmonizes, and what it usually makes is the devil's music.”

“The multiple choices and possibilities of daily life are the music we dance to. They are like strings on a guitar. Strum them and you create a pleasing sound. A harmonic. But then start adding strings. Ten strings, a hundred strings, a thousand, a million. Because they multiply!”

“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. They don't have to makes speeches. Just believing is usually enough.”

“The devil you knew was always preferable to the devil you didn't.”

“Like all sweet dreams, it will be brief, but brevity makes sweetness, doesn't it?”

“God doesn't bribe, child. He just makes a sign and lets people take it as they will.”

“There were times . . . when it occurred to me that I was repeating my mother's life. Usually this thought struck me as funny. But if I happened to be tired, or if there were extra bills to pay and no money to pay them with, it seemed awful. I'd think 'This isn't the way our lives are supposed to be going.' Then I'd think 'Half the world has the same idea.”