Don't wait until you're 'in the mood.' Get into the mood by writing.

When we're young, we like happy endings. When we're a little older, we think happy endings are unrealistic and so we prefer bad but credible endings. When we're older still, we realize happy endings aren't so bad after all.

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

It made him feel invisible—not that he wanted to feel anything else.

He's lost something, some illusion I used to think was necessary to him. He's come to realize he too is human. Or is this a performance, for my benefit, to show me he's up-to-date? Maybe men shouldn't have been told about their own humanity. It's only made them uncomfortable. It's only made them trickier, slier, more evasive, harder to read.

In the animal world individuals cheat, as do we.

I'm not senile," I snapped. "If I burn the house down it will be on purpose.