When you're in your 20s, your 30s, even, you have - at least, I had - vast ambitions, and you sit around mooning about these things, and you're depressed, because you haven't done them. And it takes you a long time to come to the realization that if you can't be John Updike, well, then, you can't.

You're such a big liar you gotta get your neighbor to call your dog.

I'm not busy... a woman with three children under the age of 10 wouldn't think my schedule looked so busy.

Secret of life is to go through something harrowing that doesnt kill you...and to love one woman for the rest of your life.

A good friend is a person who thinks you're one of the good eggs, even if he knows you're a little cracked.

Growing up in a place that has winter, you learn to avoid self-pity. Winter is not a personal experience, everybody else is just as cold as you, so you shouldn't complain about it too much. You learn this as a kid, coming home crying from the cold, and Mother looks down and says, 'It's only a little frostbite. You're okay.' And thus you learn to be okay. What's done is done. Get over it. Drink your coffee. It's not the best you'll ever get but it's good enough.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.