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Everyone is flailing through this life without an owner's manual, with whatever modicum of grace and good humor we can manage.

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There are really places in your heart that you don't know exist until you love a child.

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Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and you're 65, or 75, and you never got your memoir or novel written, or you didn't go swimming in those warm...more

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My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words; about the margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit a...more

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How alive am I willing to be?

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Two things put me in the spirit to give. One is that I have come to think of everyone with whom I come into contast as a patient in the emergency room...more

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We can't understand when we're pregnant, or when our siblings are expecting, how profound it is to have a shared history with a younger generation: bl...more

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You have to make mistakes to find out who you aren't. You take the action, and the insight follows: You don't think your way into becoming yourself.

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Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good a...more

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Nothing can be delicious when you are holding your breath.

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Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle...more

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E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the wh...more

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But you don't always get what you want;,you get what you get

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If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up...more

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Human lives are hard, even those of health and privilege, and don't make much sense. This is the message of the Book of Job: Any snappy explanation of...more