As Marilee and I were dressing, I whispered to her that I loved her with all my heart. What else was there to say? 'You don't. You can't,' she said.

Our government's got a war on drugs. That's certainly better than no drugs at all.

They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.

A story has to be a good date, because the reader can stop at any time. Remember, readers are selfish and have no compulsion to be decent about anything.

He ate a pear. It was a hard one. It fought back against his grinding teeth. It snapped in juicy protest.

Nowadays, of course, just about our only solvent industry is the merchandising of death, bankrolled by our grandchildren.

The Chicago City News Bureau was a tripwire for all the newspapers in town when I was there, and there were five papers, I think. We were out all the time around the clock and every time we came across a really juicy murder or scandal or whatever, they'd send the big time reporters and photographers, otherwise they'd run our stories. So that's what I was doing, and I was going to university at the same time.