Last night there seemed to be a chance. Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.

I express preference for a chronological sequence of events which precludes a violence.

...'I thought the rule was that all monks were shaved.' 'Oh, Soto says he is bald under the hair,'said Lu Tze. 'He says the hair is a separate creature that just happens to live on him.

All holy piety in public, and all peeled grapes and self-indulgence in private.

I wouldn't trust you with a bucket of water if my knickers were on fire!

Of course, it is very important to be sober when you take an exam. Many worthwhile careers in the street-cleansing, fruit-picking and subway-guitar-playing industries have been founded on a lack of understanding of this simple fact.

The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.