The best writing deadlines are poverty and death.

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

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

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

Empathy is what separates human beings from teenage boys.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.