And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery.

A spinning coin, still balanced on its rim, may fall in either direction.

In a rough way the short story writer is to the novelist as a cabinetmaker is to a house carpenter.

Walking on the land or digging in the fine soil I am intensely aware that time quivers slightly, changes occurring in imperceptible and minute ways, accumulating so subtly that they seem not to exist. Yet the tiny shifts in everything--cell replication, the rain of dust motes, lengthening hair, wind-pushed rocks--press inexorably on and on.

Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.

We're all strange inside. We learn how to disguise our differences as we grow up.

And I think that's important, to know how the water's gone over the dam before you start to describe it. It helps to have been over the dam yourself.