The action most worth watching is not at the center of things, but where edges meet.

I'd rather have a book, but in a pinch I'll settle for a set of Water Pik instructions.

If my father were still writing essays, every full-grown 'girl' would probably be transformed into a'woman'.

Something amazing happens when the rest of the world is sleeping. I am glued to my chair. I forget that I ever wanted to do anything but write. The crowded city, the crowded apartment, and the crowded calendar suddenly seem spacious. Three or four hours pass in a moment; I have no idea what time it is, because I never check the clock. If I chose to listen, I could hear the swish of taxis bound for downtown bars or the soft saxophone riffs that drift from a neighbor's window, but nothing gets through. I am suspended in a sensory deprivation tank, and the very lack of sensation is delicious.

when I walk into an apartment with books on the shelves, books on the bedside tables, books on the floor, and books on the toilet tank, then I know what I would see if I opened the door that says Private - grownups keep out: a children sprawled on the bed, reading.

Reading aloud means no skipping, no skimming, no cutting to the chase.

E-mail is a modern Penny Post: the world is a single city with a single postal rate.