The novel's not organized like a screenplay. If you shot the novel, you'd have a twelve-hour movie.

Don't talk about it; write.

You don't have to worry about the future, you don't worry about the past - you just explode.

(...) And metaphors like cats behind your smile, Each one wound up to purr, each one a pride, Each one a fine gold beast you've hid inside (...)

When the wind is right, a faint odor of kerosene is exhaled from Senator McCarthy.

If you're reluctant to weep, you won't live a full and complete life.

I have four daughters and eight grandchildren. My soul lives on in them. That's immortality. That's the only immortality I care about.