He’d meant to forgive his brother, maybe even imagined he had. He’d also meant to learn to trust him, but instead merely fell into the habit of waiting for him to fuck up again.

He couldn't even tell whether he was angry or contrite, whether it was forgiveness he wanted or the power to forgive.

every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.

Even at its most perceptive, sociology deals in abstractions.

When I look back over my novels what I find is that when I think I'm finished with a theme, I'm generally not. And usually themes will recur from novel to novel in odd, new guises.

I never worry about people not taking my work seriously as a result of the humor. In the end, the comic's best trick is the illusion that comedy is effortless. That people imagine what he's doing is easy is an occupational hazard.