You're afraid of making mistakes. Don't be. Mistakes can be profited by. Man, when I was young I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.

Do three things each night before you go to bed: read a poem, read a short story, read an essay.

The library is the biggest cracker box factory in the world. The more you eat, the more you want.

Science and religion have to go hand in hand with the mystery, because there's a certain point beyond which you say, "There are no answers."

You've got to be able to look at your thoughts on paper and discover what a fool you were.

Work is the only answer. I have three rules to live by. One, get your work done. If that doesn't work, shut up and drink your gin. And when all else fails, run like hell!

Do what you love, don't do anything else.