This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

by Ann Patchett

Only a few of us are going to be willing to break our own hearts by trading in the living beauty of imagination for the stark disappointment of words.

Art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means that to get to the art you must master the craft.

Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and very possibly the key to finding any semblance of happiness in life.

The same is true of the books we read. I think that what influences us in literature comes less from what we love and more from what we happen to pick up in moments when we are especially open.

Raymond Chandler. The Long Goodbye is my favorite.)

You learn things about characters as you write them, so even if you think you know where things are heading, don’t set it in stone; you might change your mind. You have to let the action progress the way it must, not the way you want it to.

One method of revision that I find both loathsome and indispensable is reading my work aloud when I’m finished.

go to one of the online sites that list agents who are looking for new clients, and then follow their submission guidelines to the letter.

Habits stick, both the good ones and the bad.

There can be something cruel about people who have had good fortune. They equate it with personal goodness.

I imagine there are people out there

who got a dog when what they wanted was a baby, but I wonder if there aren’t other people who had a baby when all they really needed was a dog.

The quality of a life is defined not by its length, but by its depth, its actions and achievements. It is defined by our ability to love.

those perfect times with the people we love, those moments of joy and equality that sustain us later on.