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

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

He became fubar in the classic way, which is to say that he was the victim of a temporary arrangement that became permanent.

What I would really like to have been, given a perfect world, is a jazz pianist. I mean jazz. I don't mean rock and roll. I mean the never-the-same-twice music the American black people gave the world.

The two prime movers in the Universe are Time and Luck.

Having a yacht is a reason for being more cheerful than most.