Now, being in Africa, I was hungry for more of it, the changes of the seasons, the rains with no need to travel, the discomforts that you paid to make it real, the names of the trees, of the small animals, and all the birds, to know the language and have time to be in it and to move slowly.

You’re my religion. You’re all I’ve got.

I'm always reading books-as many as there are. I ration myself on them so that I'll always be in supply.

When I saw my wife again standing by the tracks as the train came in by the piled logs at the station, I wished I had died before I had ever loved anyone but her.

That terrible mood of depression of whether it's any good or not is what is known as The Artist's Reward.

The first draft of anything is sh*t.

Rereading places you at the point where it has to go on, knowing it is as good as you can get it up to there. There is always juice somewhere.