That heartbreaking moment when you finish an amazing book, and you are forced to return to reality.

It wasn't until I lived in the countryside that I began to understand the life of the countryside and the people in it and trees and water. Just learning about water is an education for a city person.

Art's too long and life's too short.

Waves, once they land on the beach, are not reversible.

What we owe men is some freedom from their part in a murderous game in which they kick each other to death with one foot, bracing themselves on our various comfortable places with the other.

But what's a writer for? The whole point is to put yourself into other lives, other heads-writers have always done that. If you screw up, so someone will tell you, that's all.

It's a terrible thing to die young. Still, it saves a lot of time.