I been silent so long now it’s gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.

You're making sense, old man, a sense of your own. You're not crazy the way they think. Yes...I see.

A sound of cornered-animal fear and hate and surrender and defiance . . . like the last sound the treed and shot and falling animal makes as the dogs get him, when he finally doesn't care about anything but himself and his dying.

But I tried, didn't I? Goddamnit, at least I did that.

The dead's dead ... get 'em in the ground and look to the live ones.

I felt like you can write forever, but you have a short time to raise a family. And I think a family is a lot more important than writing.

Tricker the Squirrel is the best piece I ever wrote. It's intricate.