What are your fees?" inquired Guyal cautiously. "I respond to three questions," stated the augur. "For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue.

I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self-esteem and I am skeptical of praise.

I haven't sold to the movies. In other words, I haven't gotten any enormous checks yet.

Of all questions, why? is the least pertinent. It begs the question; it assumes the larger part of its own response; to wit, that a sensible response exists.

The void is a mouth crying to be filled, a blank mind aching for thought, a cavity desperate for shape. What is not implies what is.

I got done writing Ports of Call and suddenly realized I have far too much material for the book.

But, for instance, when I was awfully young, I read all the Oz books. They were an enormous influence on me.