I think that was when the headmaster realized he had lost; he realized then that he was finished. Because, what could he do? Was he going to tell us to stop praying? We kept our heads bowed; and we kept praying. Even as awkward as he was, the Rev. Mr. Merrill had made it clear to us that there was no end to praying for Owen Meany.

My old coach used to say that if you were in it for the match, if you were in it for the trophies, you were in it for the wrong reasons.

Good habits are worth being fanatical about.

As it was, things went from bad to worse, as they often will when amateurs are involved in an activity that they perform in bad temper – or in a hurry.

I'm old-fashioned, a storyteller. I'm not an analyst and I'm not an intellectual.

The former stewardess glared at her ex-pilot husband as if he had been speaking, and thinking, in the absence of sufficient oxygen.

You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else.