It is very important to a lot of people to make unmistakably clear to themselves and to the universe that they love the universe but are not intimidated by it and will not be shaken by it, no matter what it has in store. Moreover, they demand something from themselves early in life that can be taken ever after as a demonstration of this abiding feeling.

...life every now and then becomes literature...as if life had been made and not happened.

Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.

One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful even if it is only a floating ash.

The world is full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana.

At the time I did not know that stories of life are often more like rivers than books.

I am haunted by waters.