People who imagine themselves to be self-made seldom enjoy examining the process of manufacture in detail.

What I discovered I liked best about striking out on my bicycle was that the farther I got from home, the more interesting and unusual my thoughts became.

To his surprise he also discovered that it was possible to be good at what you had little interest in, just as it had been possible to be bad at something, whether painting or poetry, that you cared about a great deal.

A short story is something that I think can be intuited and envisioned and held in your mind almost at once.

People in small towns, much more than in cities, share a destiny.

The line of gray along the horizon is brighter now, and with the coming light I feel a certainty: that there is, despite our wild imaginings, only one life. The ghostly others, no matter how real they seem, no matter how badly we need them, are phantoms. The one life we're left with is sufficient to fill and refill our imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up.

Ultimately, your theme will find you. You don't have to go looking for it.