There is this notion that the lives of the comfortable-off middle class don't merit being treated seriously and with compassion.

Madly, futilely, I wrote novel after novel, eight in all, that failed to find a publisher. I persisted because for me the novel was the supreme literary form - not just one among many, not a relic of the past, but the way we communicate to one another the subtlest truths about this business of living.

A well-off plastic surgeon can suffer just as much as an Irish lad who has been abused or whatever.

There are dozens of great American writers who write about the family.

God may forgive your sins, but your nervous system won't.

It's possible that the 2012 general-election race will be the least overtly religious one since 1972, the last campaign before Roe v. Wade and the rise of Jimmy Carter brought evangelicalism into the political mainstream. That's because faith remains a complicated issue for Obama, who is still wrongly thought to be a Muslim in some quarters.

Priesthood is the means whereby the Lord acts through men to save souls. One of the defining features of the Church of Jesus Christ, both anciently and today, is His authority. There can be no true Church without divine authority.

I believe in incentivizing people. If you can incentivize people in anything, whether it's in politics; in life; in spirituality; in business; just take care of folks. Incentivize them and all of a sudden it's amazing the difference that you'll see.