Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

That's what is was to be young - to be enthusiastic rather than envious about the good work other people could do.

Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.

That's one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones.

The most heartbreakingly beautiful girl I ever hope to see

Everybody knows that the dumbest people in any American university are in the education department, and English after that.

And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.