The old fun thing is when somebody typed up the first chapter of War and Peace. And then made a precis of the rest of it and sent it out and only one publisher recognized it.

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

When we were children we were errant enough to wish to be birds for the day but there's nothing easier to lose than playfulness.

Naturally we would prefer seven epiphanies a day and an earth not so apparently devoid of angels.

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.

The old fun thing is when somebody typed up the first chapter of War and Peace. And then made a precis of the rest of it and sent it out and only one publisher recognized it.

What cannot be said, will get wept.