I meet a person, and in my mind I'm saying three minutes; I give you three minutes to show me the spark.

I think of the chimp, the one with the talking hands.

Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.

Obviously, in journalism, you're confined to what happens. And the tendency to embellish, to mythologize, it's in us. It makes things more interesting, a closer call. But journalism taught me how to write a sentence that would make someone want to read the next one.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Since his mother died I have seen him steam a cucumber thinking it was zucchini. That's the kind of thing that turns my heart right over.