I like grit, I like love and death, I'm tired of irony. ... A lot of good fiction is sentimental. ... The novelist who refuses sentiment refuses the full spectrum of human behavior, and then he just dries up. ... I would rather give full vent to all human loves and disappointments, and take a chance on being corny, than die a smartass.

I can maintain my sense of the sacredness of existence only by understanding my own limitations and losing my self-importance.

All artists as a type seem to suffer a great deal, but then so do miners.

Because most writers have totally unrealistic concepts of how publishing works.

Poetry at its best is the language your soul would speak if you could teach your soul to speak.

The reason to moderate is to avoid having to quit.

Nothing on my trip thus far was as I expected which shows you that rather than simply read about the United States you have to log the journey.