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

I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.

In a life properly lived, you're a river.

The fact is, the media never gets off the interstate unless there's a major explosion.

The wife picked out ceramic tile for floor covering, not realizing that cost was determined by square foot, not square yard like carpet. Thinking the price was plenty reasonable, she had an extra room of tile ordered for installation. When the bill arrived, it was staggering. She and her husband began a fight that continued all through the construction job. They ended up divorced, but not until she had broken every window.

I thought, frankly, that it would be more pleasant to write a memoir than it was.

Michigan is two radically different places - the North and the South which makes for good drama and contrast.