So what, ghosts can't hurt you. That's what I thought then.

The shuddering would not stop. The pain was like the end of the world. He thought: There comes a point when the very discussion of pain becomes redundant. No one knows there is pain the size of this in the world. No one. It is like being possessed by demons.

Just remember that Dumbo didn't need the feather; the magic was in him.

The idea that creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time.

If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you.

The first thing was to get down to Addie Richardson's henhouse, and that was a goodish way, four or five miles. She found herself wondering if the Lord was going to send her an eagle to fly her those four miles, or send Elijah in his fiery chariot to give her a lift. Blasphemy," she told herself complacently. "The Lord provides strength, not taxicabs.

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.