Being a father teaches you very quickly that you are not the center of your own universe. That’s one of the gifts of having to wipe poop!

Boy, being a parent is a hard job, I think, because in parenting you want your kids to like you. Too much sometimes. It’s a hard line to find between doing what’s necessary to give them the tools to be good kids and make good decisions and all that, versus just completely not giving them a chance to accomplish anything because you do everything for them. I kind of feel like it’s okay if these kids go out and make a few mistakes, because they’re going to learn. The last ten years have been interesting, because I’m a stepparent to three kids, and I’m a father to two kids, an older and a younger. And it’s a real interesting dynamic.

I’m much much closer to my children than my father was to me, and I would hope that the quality of love I’ve given them is different from the quality my father gave me.

He says that he has the job of his dreams, which is the greatest joy that I can feel, is to have my child say he has the job of his dreams.

At a basic level, I think something is successful if I think I got myself anywhere new at all.

Carrie helped me keep to a strict rhythm, but all the essays took shape in very idiosyncratic ways.

I feel some sort of chemistry with the subject.…The bar for me is when it’s interesting enough that I would talk about it on my own time.

I act like a hopeful person, but I think that hope is based on having zero expectations.

if there is anyone who’s telling you, “Here’s what you should do,” they are somehow lying to you

I’m always afraid of false certainty about things