“Confound my genteel upbringing! I could not think of any name foul enough to call him.”

“I call him Rama. You can call him by any other name but have faith in him, surrender all worldly desires and passions to his will and without effort, become disciplined and principled.”

“No, I don't think I could fall in love with him, handsome though he is, because I don't accept any of that huff he gives me about my great beauty and all that. I'd have to trust a man's words before I could love him. I think.”

“(On being called cynical & skeptical): “I do have a healthy skepticism, I think we all should. But I think if you listen closely enough, you’ll find that my message, if I as a joke-blower could be pompous enough to have one, is that we’re all alright and it’s gonna work out. I don’t find that cynical at all.””

“I pressed play then came a long way from the Mac Book / I heard Raginder on “A. D. H. D.” then scribbled him down in my black book / Thinking one day he’d collaborate with a no name, named Marcus O / with one goal, sign Violinder so then he’ll call my imprint home.”

“They were a well-behaved group, too; getting in trouble often enough so there could be no doubt about their masculinity, but not enough so that the discipline officer would remember any of their names.”

“One night in Boston I went out to dinner with my editor and his wife—this was my first editor, the beloved editor, and I was in awe of him; I still am in awe of him. The editor kissed me on the cheek as we parted and called me his “darling boy,” as if thereby investing me with the Order of Letters Genteel. It was among the happiest nights of my life; I was filled with sadness as I watched the two of them, the editor and his wife, walk away.”

“The name “Bane” popped out at me while looking through a thesaurus to compile a list of possible names. That’s the name I kept coming back to when I thought of him and I eventually brought everyone else around to calling him that. The worry was that the name was too simple. I think that’s its charm; snappy and elegant and on-message. This guy is the bane of everyone he touches.”

“One of my cousins is named Lucifer. I once asked my aunt why and she said, "Because I wanted him to be beautiful and to think for himself.”

“Lord of Medina, listen to my calling,
My hopes are directed to you,
I do not think of any other helper.”