I know where I'm going. And if I don't know where I'm going, I don't tend to get anywhere.

I always feel it is a shortcoming of mine as a reader and as a writer that I frankly need to like somebody.

For a man to know what he has when he had it, that is what makes him a fortunate man.

The hardest piece of nonfiction I ever wrote isn't anywhere close to the easiest piece of fiction I never wrote.

I saw that my best work was my most personal work, which is odd, because my fiction is very far afield and has nothing to do with my life.

If you've had good gin on a hot day in Southern California with the people you love, you forget Nebraska. The two things cannot coexist. The stronger, better of the two wins.

People seem able to love their dogs with an unabashed acceptance that they rarely demonstrate with family or friends. The dogs do not disappointment them, or, if they do, the owners manages to forget about it quickly. I want to learn to love people like this, the way I love my dog, with pride and enthusiasm and a complete amnesia for faults. In short, to love others the way my dog loves me.