Maybe television causes cancer, Garp thinks; but his real irritation is a writer's irritation: he knows that wherever the TV glows, there sits someone who isn't reading.

. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .

… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.

The powerful wind swept his hair away from his face; he leaned his chest into the wind, as if he stood on the deck of a ship heading into the wind, slicing through the waves of an ocean he’d not yet seen.

It's my experience that very few writers, young or old, are really seeking advice when they give out their work to be read. They want support; they want someone to say, "Good job."

You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.

I have a very poor record at multiple choice questions.