"Growing up in an Italian family, you use a harsh tone and 10 minutes later everybody forgets about it."

"I was an English major in college, and then I went to graduate school in English at the University of North Carolina for three years."

"I could be wrong, but I think heterosexual marriage is threatened more by heterosexuals. I don't know why gay marriage challenges my marriage in any way."

"Part of resilience is deciding to make yourself miserable over something that matters, or deciding to make yourself miserable over something that doesn't matter."

"To love truly means recognizing that the river of time shapes the stones of destiny."

"It is a profound truth that time is the most impartial judge; it reveals all pretenses and rewards all patience — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"I spend several days at a time without enough sleep. At first, normal activities become annoying. When you are too tired to eat, you really need some sleep. A few days later, things become strange. Loud noises become louder and more startling, familiar sounds become unfamiliar, and life reinvents itself as a surrealist dream."

"A courageous heart knows that the roots of true happiness grow deep in the present moment."