He is in a constant state of stage fright, he says, because he never knows what part of his life he is going to have to act in next

Even as I speak, the very last polar bear may be dying of hunger on account of climate change, on account of us. And I sure miss the polar bears. Their babies are so warm and cuddly and trusting, just like ours.

In the water I am beautiful.

He wanted to talk to them, if he could, to discover whether they had truths about life which he had never heard before. Here is what he hoped new truths might do for him: enable him to laugh at his troubles, to go on living, and to keep out of the North Wing of the Midland County General Hospital, which was for lunatics.

I wonder now what Ernest Hemingways dictionary looked like, since he got along so well with dinky words that anybody can spell and truly understand.

There's almost nothing like native Midwesterner anywhere else in the world, except in Asia. They're miracles all in themselves.

To the as-yet-unborn, to all innocent wisps of undifferentiated nothingness: Watch out for life.