The bad thing about small-town life is that everybody knows your business...I suppose that is my central obsession. What we owe to society, what we owe to ourselves.

Oh, that river of wishes, the slippery crocodile dream of it, how it might have carried my body down through all the glittering sand bars to the sea.

It's tough to break yourself as news to a town that already knows you.

Friends, there is nothing like your own family to make you appreciate strangers!

I personally am inclined to approach [housework] the way governments treat dissent: ignore it until it revolts.

...whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And peace will be with you.

Everything truly important is washable.