“Good fiction writers have an instinctive understanding of human nature. That’s what makes stories and characters captivating. Good spiritual writers share what they sincerely practice themselves.”

“Original sin and conscious awareness of human fallibility is the perpetual agent of transformation in human affairs. Humankind’s behavior is pathological; it is an admixture of instinct and reason, kindness and cruelty, immorality and seeking redemption.”

“Human nature is, and will always be, indelibly stamped by weakness. Indeed, we are so bound to our own defeat that it has become the means of our development.”