Wrestling was my first success, the first thing that confirmed that I could be good at anything. Devoting yourself to wrestling, or tennis, or skiing, or dance, or to a musical instrument is a longing to be disciplined for a purpose.

If we live long enough, we become caricatures of ourselves.

He was one of those people things came easily to, but he did little to demonstrate that he deserved to be gifted.

O God — please give him back! I shall keep asking You.

Plot is a map and I begin with it. It is what made me admire the novels of the 19th century; that the stories are foreshadowed. TheyÕre going someplace.

She sat keenly white and still among them, a witness to everything--maybe determining nothing, possibly judging it all.

Kids are beautiful, man. And they know much more than grownups think they know. Kids are just perfect people until grownups get their hands on them.