The constants that I look for are a love of light and a determination to trace some moral chain of being.

The poet or storyteller who feels that he is competing with a superb double play in the World Series is a lost man. One would not want as a reader a man who did not appreciate the finesse of a double play.

To be an American and unable to play baseball is comparable to being a Polynesian and unable to swim.

I write to make sense of my life." -John Cheever, quoted in _Cheever - A Life_ (2009) by Blake Bailey

The irony of Christmas is always upon the poor in heart; the mystery of the solstice is always upon the rest of us.

The secret of keeping young is to read children's books. You read the books they write for little children and you'll keep young. You read novels, philosophy, stuff like that and it makes you feel old.

The fear of death is for all of us everywhere, but for the great intelligence of the opium eater it is beautifully narrowed into the crux of drugs.