In making war with nature, there was risk of loss in winning.

If by some fiat I had to restrict all this writing to one sentence, this is the one I would choose: The summit of Mt. Everest is marine limestone.

I used to sit in class and listen to the terms come floating down the room like paper airplanes.

Nonfiction-wha t the hell, that just says, this is nongrapefruit we're having this morning.

The summit of Mount Everest is marine limestone.

A writer has to have some kind of compulsive drive to do his work. If you don't have it, you'd better find another kind of work, because it's the only compulsion that will drive you through the psychological nightmares of writing.

He liked to go from A to B without inventing letters between.