"My parents had this relationship that was really terrifying. I mean, the level of hatred that they had, and the level of physical abuse - my mother would beat up my father, basically - and I think I was drawn to images on television that were bright and reflective."

"Marriage is overdone. As long as there are people, people are going to find it interesting."

"I've just finished my next collection, Possible Side Effects, and I'm now working on a collection of holiday stories as well as a memoir about my relationship with my father."

"The secret to being a writer is that you have to write. It's not enough to think about writing or to study literature or plan a future life as an author. You really have to lock yourself away, alone, and get to work."

"Tomorrow morning before we depart, I intend to land and see what can be found in the neighborhood."

"The Bible is our rule of faith and doctrine."

"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."

"Trust me, you have to fight. When people are wrong, you've got to let them know it."