A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.", Frankfurt Book Fair, October 12, 2003]

Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violences which precede and follow them.

That's Third Thoughts for you. When a huge rock is going to land on your head, they're the thoughts that think: Is that an igneous rock, such as granite, or is it sandstone?

A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the w