Writing is not an exercise in excision, it's a journey into sound.

Writing is both mask and unveiling.

Children hold spring so tightly in their brown fists-just as grownups, who are less sure of it, hold it in their hearts.

Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

Don't write about Man; write about a man.

If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.

The essayist . . . can pull on any sort of shirt, be any sort of person, according to his mood or his subject matter - philosopher, scold, jester, raconteur, confidant, pundit, devil's advocate, enthusiast.