There came a time in every prolonged effort when he had a moment of near panic, or 'terror in a lonely place', the original semantic content of the word. The lonely place was his own mind.

I slept for four years. I didn't study much of anything. I majored in something called communication arts.

America can be saved only by what it's trying to destroy.

Past, present and future are not amenities of language. Time unfolds into the seamsof being. It passes through you, making and shaping.

Longing on a large scale makes history.

Some nights I need to be held. Tonight I'm a listener. So nice to lie in rumpled sheets and listen. Cover me with words.

I saw a photograph of a wedding conducted by Reverend Moon of the Unification Church. I wanted to understand this event, and the only way to understand it was to write about it.