Time continued to pass - the oldest trick in the world, and maybe the only one that really is magic.

I’ve always said to people, "I don’t care what you call me as long as the checks don’t bounce and the family gets fed." But I never saw myself that way. I just saw myself as a novelist.

you will not falter, because you will have the Everlasting Arm of the Lord God of Hosts to lean on. Yes. With God’s help you will stand.

I am always chilled and astonished by the would-be writers who ask me for advice and admit, quite blithely, that they "don't have time to read." This is like a guy starting up Mount Everest saying that he didn't have time to buy any rope or pitons.

Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.

And when there are enough outsiders together in one place, a mystic osmosis takes place and you're inside.

A man who lies about beer makes enemies.