I figured that to be a writer I would need to have been born in the nineteenth century, be British, or have three names. So I turned my sights elsewhere . . . to acting.

Before I got my present job, I spent many years teaching writing part-time, so-called, at community colleges and universities. It's academia's version of migrant labor.

You're unusual. That's better than popular if you have some courage.

Peculiar as I was, and remain, I was trained to be practical. I'm still amazed at the radical temerity of my friends, you included, Julie, who choose poetry as their vocation. I envy your faith.

I loved short stories, and they were all I wanted to write. I love the compression of them and the exactitude needed to get a whole world into such a small space.

Whatever one may say about the perils of workshops, they help writers internalize an awareness of audience.

Unless you're Stephen King or Joyce Carol Oates, no one's going to recognize you on the street, and you're promoting your book, not yourself.

Whatever we know as children, this is the world, eaten whole and without question.

In a world of lovelightning and rainbow are lovers now. They arc and strike upon the horizon of credence to rise above their cloudy vow

When I was a kid, I read comics. But when I saw how funny it was, and how wonderfully absurd, I said, "You know, I gotta do this."

Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity is forever

Gregg Braden is a rare blend of a scientist, visionary, and scholar, with the ability to speak to our minds, while touching the wisdom of our hearts.

I really liked German food. And it's very clean.. It's a very clean country. They kind of get rid of the waste really well... the garbage.

One senses the figures as passing by the tree line and, caught in the presence of the wall, turning to gaze upon it almost as a vision.

I do not believe that you have to spend a lot of money to eat well: it is hard to beat a plain old baked potato.

There were a lot more girls at the shows early on. I'd get off stage and there would be options. Those days are long gone, thank god.

...Seek counsel of very pious, disinterested persons, and follow the call of O[ur] L[ord] and the advice of those persons.

I'm not saying that a child who was abused or beaten or abandoned made that happen, but your reaction to it is always yours.