That's one of the great advantages of age. You can say, I don't want to, I don't care, you can throw temper tantrums, and nobody minds.

Success, like fashion, is a fickle companion and can leave one in the wink of an eye.

I looked at Lucas with the pang that a parent feels when he knows his child will be hurt and that it's no one's fault and that to try to preempt the rites of passage is an act of contempt for the child's courage.

We all end up in the same place. Some sonner than others.

I also believe my home state is cursed by ignorance and poverty and racism, much of it deliberately inculcated to control a vulnerable electorate. And I believe many of the politicians in Louisiana are among the most stomach-churning examples of white trash and venality I have ever known. To me, the fact that large numbers of people find them humorously picaresque is mind numbing, on a level with telling fond tales of one's rapist.

Don't undo a brave and noble deed. Don't rob yourself of your own virtue.

I used to save all my rejection slips because I told myself, one day I'm going to autograph these and auction them. And then I lost the box.