I did not raise my son, Sam, to celebrate Mother’s Day. I didn’t want him to feel some obligation to buy me pricey lunches or flowers, some annual display of gratitude that you have to...

I accidentally forgot to graduate from college.

I quit my last real job, as a writer at a magazine, when I was twenty-one. That was the moment when I lost my place of prestige on the fast track, and slowly, millimeter by...

If you asked me, parents were supposed to affect the life of their child in such a way that the child grows up to be responsible, able to participate in life and in community.

If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into...

No matter how people mess with you or let you down, or how you let yourself down, a good book means that when you get in bed that night, you have a good hour. I...

[Jesus is] saying that we could be aware of, filled with, and saved by the presence of holy beauty, rather than worship golden calves.

Now she and I sit together in her room and eat chocolate, and I tell her that in a very long time when we both to go heaven, we should try to get chairs next...

I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes...

I am an Aries. Although I do not believe in astrology, I think this is exactly the right sign to have been born under.

You want to give me chocolate and flowers? That would be great. I love them both. I just don’t want them out of guilt, and I don’t want them if you’re not going to give...

I went to Goucher College in Maryland for the best possible reasons – to learn – but then I dropped out at 19 for the best possible reasons – to become a writer.

The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.

If your wife locks you out of the house, you don’t have a problem with your door.

Jesus is busy with his own stuff, and is not going to get involved in your little tug-of-war. Plus, don’t forget, he has his own mother to deal with. She’s all he can handle, as...

Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.

Our shadow is on the outside. And we can see in the dark: we can see you, we see you turn away, but one day we finally understand that you turn away not from our...

I am going to notice the lights of the earth, the sun and the moon and the stars, the lights of our candles as we march, the lights with which spring teases us, the light...

No one can appropriate God, goodness, the Bible or Jesus. It just seems that way.

I am skittish about relationships, as most of the marriages I’ve seen up close have been ruinous for one or both parties.

So how on earth can I bring a child into the world, knowing that such sorrow lies ahead, that it is such a large part of what it means to be human?I’m not sure. That’s...