Nature is, above all, profligate. Don't believe them when they tell you how economical and thrifty nature is, whose leaves return to the soil. Wouldn't it be cheaper to leave them on the tree in the first place? This deciduous business alone is a radical scheme, the brainchild of a deranged manic-depressive with limitless capital. Extravagance! Nature will try anything once.

I still try to keep my eyes open. I'm always on the lookout for antlion traps in sandy soil, monarch pupae near milkweed, skipper larvae in locust leaves. These things are utterly common, and I've not seen one

It is difficult to undo our own damage, and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave.

Adverbs are a sign that you've used the wrong verb.

The soul may ask God for anything, and never fail.

The sensation of writing a book is the sensation of spinning, blinded by love and daring.

You do what you do out of your private love of the thing itself.