Empathy is what separates human beings from teenage boys.

There are really only two ways to react to the extraordinary. The first is to ponder the grand purpose until all the fun is sucked away, the second is to enjoy it.

The person you are (in total, at that moment in time) is what creates the story you're writing. It's infused in every piece of punctuation, in the plot, in the most minor character who crosses the page. It's all your voice.

Nearly everyone could be undone by an old woman's displeasure.

Doubt is the big machine. It grinds up the delusions of women and men.

The best writing deadlines are poverty and death.

No matter where you go, poor people have the capacity to endure. Some people even compliment us on it, as if endurance is all we can achieve.

I’m always looking for the monster. Not even just in horror. I want them in everything. Just give me the monsters. Logical conclusions don’t satisfy. Monsters satisfy, absolutely.

A little style is a good thing, but you can’t trust a person who won’t be ugly in front of you.

The poor aren't defeated. We're domesticated.

People who move to New York always the same mistake. They can't see the place.

I have my teachers who tell me what to do. I'm not quite old enough yet to be truly independent.

William Kowalski is the kind of storyteller you don’t see quite enough these days. The yarn spinner with a generous soul. The Hundred Hearts is a moving, humane adventure about the price of personal connections and the costs of sacrifice. I tore through this bad boy in two short nights.