Animals are stylized characters in a kind of old saga - stylized because even the most acute of them have little leeway as they play out their parts.

A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller.

There aren't many irritations to match the condescension which a woman metes out to a man who she believes has loved her vainly for the past umpteen years.

Black bears, though, are not fearsome. I encountered one on the road to my house in Vermont, alone at night. I picked up two stones just in case, but I wasn't afraid of him. I felt a hunter's exhilaration and a brotherly feeling.

Many people have believed that they were Chosen, but none more baldly than the Texans.

If a person sings quietly to himself on the street people smile with approval; but if he talks it's not alright; they think he's crazy. The singer is presumed to be happy and the talker unhappy.

Sophistication" is another word for that inventive mix of tolerance, resilience, and resourcefulness city people develop.