I don't really think the outburst is recent; there have always been writers in Appalachia.

Some people were born just so they could be buried.

If a person does this for just a couple of years and discovers that it just isn't for him, that's okay. At least he can move on knowing that he gave it his best shot.

Look, girls don't care how many push-ups you can do. They just want to get high and wear flowers in their hair. Maybe steal a car.

The Oxys filled holes in me I hadn't realized were empty. It was, at least for those first few months, a wonderful way to be disabled. I felt blessed.

I'm beginning to believe that anything I do to extend my life is just going to be outweighed by the agony of living it.

Though there are still many good people out there in the world, it seems that they're vastly outnumbered by the stupid, selfish, violent ones.

I spent thirty-two years in a paper mill in southern Ohio, and before that I worked in a meatpacking plant and a shoe factory.

A lot of people get the wrong impression, think there's something romantic or tragic about hitting bottom.

When I turned fifty, I decided to quit the mill and go to graduate school.

I sort of like writing about weird characters, I guess.

Maximum difficulty isn't the same as optimal difficulty.

You are not your body; you are not your brain, not even your mind. You are Spirit. All you have to do is reawaken to the memory, to remember.

Delusion and weakness produce not one mischief the less, because they are universal.

I wish I could pass my life at the foot of the holy tabernacles in which our adorable Saviour dwells.

If we knew the truth, we'd see it; all else is system and outskirts.

I'm not looking for a boyish girl. I'm looking for a boy. And I'm not looking for a girlish boy either.

It takes me a long time to make a big purchase...

Ask the right questions, and the answers will always reveal themselves.

All who suffer are full of hatred; all who live drag a remorse: the dead alone have broken their chains.

Skeletons of mice are often to be found in coconuts, for it is easier to get in, slim and greedy, than to get out, appeased but fat.