And I said to myself that he was the first thing that I had ever missed in my life.

They never pay the slaves enough so they can get free, just enough so they can stay alive and come back to work.

When I begin to doubt my ability to work the word, I simply read another writer and know I have nothing to worry about. My contest is only with myself, to do it right, with power, and force, and delight, and gamble.

the tigers have found me and I do not care.

she’s mad, but she’s magic.

I had no feeling for the things so many others needed.

I never pump up my vulgarity. I wait for it to arrive in its own terms.