Until we see each other again, keep your head together, read some good books, be useful, be happy.

The boat dipped and swayed and sometimes took on water, but it did not sink; the two brothers had waterproofed it well. I do not know where it finally fetched up, if it ever did; perhaps it reached the sea and sails there forever, like a magic boat in a fairytale. All I know is that it was still afloat and still running on the breast of the flood when it passed the incorporated town limits of Derry, Maine, and there it passes out of this tale forever.

A coward judges all he sees by what he is.

The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.

I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, did you?

Now panic beats and flutters inside my skull like a flock of starlings locked in an attic.

You have to stay faithful to what you're working on.