We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope.

Most new books drop immediately into the oblivion they so richly deserve.

One day in Dipstick, Nebraska, or Landfill, Oklahoma, is worth more to me than an eternity in Dante's plastic Paradiso, or Yeats's gold-plated Byzantium.

A venturesome minority will always be eager to set off on their own, and no obstacles should be placed in their path; let them take risks, for godsake, let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned, eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches - that is the right and privilege of any free American.

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

All serious writers want the obvious rewards: fame, money, women, love -- and most of all, an audience!

Congress is always willing to appropriate money for more and bigger paved roads, anywhere -- particularly if they form loops.