An Eskimo shaman said, Life's greatest danger lies in the fact that man's food consists entirely of souls.

About five years ago I saw a mockingbird make a straight vertical descent from the roof gutter of a four-story building. It was an act as careless and spontaneous as the curl of a stem or the kindling of a star.

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

A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order - willed, faked, and so brought into being.

The irrational haunts the metaphysical.

Johnston's books are beautifully written and among the funniest I have ever read.

I wake up thinking: What am I reading? What will I read next? I'm terrified that I'll run out, that I will read through all I want to, and be forced to learn wildflowers at last, to keep awake.