How do you write when you're not miserable? The solution, of course, is to make yourself miserable about not writing.

A waft of sweet hash drifted by, and I wanted to float after it like Wimpy levitating at the scent of a hamburger.

I need - and occasionally love - to write for the same reasons I always did: hard as writing is, it's generally easier than life.

All of us, at some point in life, choose our cliché.

It's not like I was an alkie or anything. Alcohol is for cleaning needles

I don't really know how to do much else besides write.

I kept getting high to kill my shame at the fact that I kept getting high.

To me, God is like this happy bus driver.

In my family, misery didn't just love company, it wanted hostages.

I've always wanted to be a guy with a rec room.

You need an entire drama to construct your life around to avoid living it.

He was interested in the shadow herself - how her mind worked, what motivated her, her essence, how she came to be. It was a fascinating phenomenon.

I've never really understood the criticism that climbing is inherently selfish, since it could equally be argued about virtually any other hobby or sport. Is gardening selfish?

Milwaukee one of my favorite cites; I think Milwaukee is #1.

I love the science-fiction genre because there's always so many endless possibilities! It's a limitless genre and can be fun playing around with otherworldly ideas.

We often pray for purity, unselfishness, for the highest qualities of character, and forget that these things cannot be given, but must be earned.

In my childhood, America was like a religion. Then, real-life Americans abruptly entered my life - in jeeps - and upset all my dreams.

The study of sickness is the most poetic of the sciences.

We will never know our full potential unless we push ourselves to find it. It's this self discovery that inevitably takes us to the wildest places on earth.

When I was young, I didn't really think about anything other than sports.

There was a serenity about him always that had the look of innocence, when, technically, the word was no longer applicable.