Most of those old settlers told it like it was, rough and rocky. They named their towns Rimrock, Rough Rock, Round Rock, and Wide Ruins, Skull Valley, Bitter Springs, Wolf Hole, Tombstone. It's a tough country. The names of Arizona towns tell you all you need to know.

The first books I was interested in were all about baseball. But I can't think of one single book that changed my life in any way.

I can't say that I've changed anybody's life, ever, and that's the real work of the world, if you want a better society.

There are a lot of people who are doing wonderful things, quietly, with no motive of greed, or hostility toward other people, or delusions of superiority.

I started out thinking of America as highways and state lines. As I got to know it better, I began to think of it as rivers.

There is melancholy in the wind and sorrow in the grass

It's that enthusiasm, that passion for what you're doing, that is most important.