... I vowed that I would always respect the right of an individual to kill himself. Whether suicide was a moral or immoral act I no longer felt sure, but of the dignity of its intransigence I was convinced.

The knowledge that my discriminations are skewed and not always universally desirable doesn't stop me in the least from making them.

The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, and/or yes, with honesty.

My wife and daughter have accused me of being too silent at breakfast but I don't want to talk when I don't have much to say.

Contradictory strands create an essay that's richly ambivalent.

Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

I really do like to write and when I'm not, I think, "Okay, I'll be a good citizen now" but fact is, that's secondary.