There are few, if any, Canadian men that have never spelled their name in a snow bank.

Truth be told, John said, the one thing in this world I want more than anything else is a great big crowbar, to jimmy myself open and take whatever creature that's sitting inside and shake it clean like a rug and then rinse it in a cold, clear lake like up in Oregon, and then I want to put it under the sun to let it heal and dry and grow and sit and come to consciousness again with a clear and quiet mind.

Discussions of generations only go downhill. There's no point in having them.

If someone decides to be a musician now, it means because there is no hope of money at the end of it, it means they really want to be a musician. And if someone is writing now, there is no hope for money at the end of it.

I like having a beard. My beard changes my face shape and allows me to see in it family members who I love and can't see otherwise.

In the old days people had far fewer channels in which to place their imaginative time. There's definitely more competition for time . . . and yet people seem to be reading [books] as much.

I don't want any vegetables, thank you. I paid for the cow to eat them for me.