How complicated and unpredictable the machinery of life really is.

Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

The thing my father was proudest of was the Ayres clock at the intersection of Washington Street and Meridian. That made him so happy. Ayres complained because he wouldn't send them a bill. There was stuff my family had done there - particularly my father and grandfather - that was quite permanent and wonderful.

How embarrassing it is to be human.

The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn't really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn't going to compose Beethoven's Fifth.

He couldn't tell the difference between one politician and another. They were all formlessly enthusiastic chimpanzees to him.

The Earthlings behaved at all times as though there were a big eye in the sky—as though that big eye were ravenous for entertainment.