We come from people who brought us up to believe that life is a struggle, and if you should feel really happy, be patient: this will pass.

Nothing that readers say or do strikes me as a nuisance. Anyone who cracks open a book of mine is, to me, a gem.

We writers don't really think about whether what we write is good or not. It's too much to worry about. We just put the words down, trying to get them right, operating by some inner sense of pitch and proportion, and from time to time, we stick the stuff in an envelope and ship it to an editor.

Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth, but so far all we've gotten is Minnesota and North Dakota.

You get old and you realize there are no answers, just stories.

You can go your whole life and not need math or physics for a minute, but the ability to tell a joke is always handy.

It is more worthy in the eyes of God . . . if a writer makes three pages sharp and funny about the lives of geese than to make three hundred fat and flabby about God or the American people.