People live longer today than they ever have. They live happier lives, have more knowledge, more information. All this is the result of communications technology. How is any of that bad?

Privacy and loneliness were the traditional luxuries accorded to a skipper.

Whenever somebody comes up with a good idea, there's somebody else who has never had a good idea in his life who stands up and says, "Oh, you can't do that..."

One thing about flying that he never got used to was that no matter how awful the weather was on the ground, if you flew high enough you could always find the sun.

"Literature" is written material that, 100 years after the death of the author, is forced upon high school students.

The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.

Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.