Talent is extremely common. What is rare is the willingness to endure the life of the writer.

My God, the religious right will not acknowledge what a merciful person Jesus was.

People like to feel entitled, whether they're actually entitled or not.

I don't think he was knowable. I mean, when most people talk about knowing somebody a lot or a little, they're talking about the secrets they've been told or haven't been told. They're talking about intimate things, family things, love things," that nice old lady said to me. "Mr. Hoenikker had all those things in his life, the way every living person has to, but they weren't the main things with him.

My definition of a man's man is a man who knows gun safety, and we all did.

Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.

Please — a little less love, and a little more common decency.