"all his prayers of the past had been simple concrete requests: God, give me a bicycle, a knife with seven blades, a box of oil paints. Only how, how, could you say something so indefinite, so meaningless as this: God, let me be loved."
"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."
"You can't blame a writer for what the characters say."
"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."
"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."
"Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad and, even more terrifying, the difference between it and true art. And after that, the whip came down."