Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again

Why, Jon, why?" his mother asked. "Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can't you leave low flying to the pelicans, the alhatross? Why don't you eat? Son, you're bone and feathers!" "I don't mind being bone and feathers mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can't, that's all. I just want to know.

I'm a writer as rarely as possible, when forced by an idea too lovely to let die unwritten

Nothing happens by chance, my friend... No such thing as luck. A meaning behind every little thing, and such a meaning behind this. Part for you, part for me, may not see it all real clear right now, but we will, before long.

One of the cosmic laws, I think, is that whatever we hold in our thought will come true in our experience.

Do you ever have the feeling you're a tourist on earth?

We [Americans] are game-playing, fun-loving creatures; we are the otters of the universe.