I started going to Ohio University when I was in my mid-thirties, ended up with an English degree when I was forty.

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.

You have such faith, ” he tells me. “Let it be bigger than your fears.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always enjoyed feeling afraid. I think it is the most delicious feeling there is

Old Zen was the reduction of concepts to absurdity.

Love not too well the work of thy hands and the devices of thy heart; and remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the West, and cometh from the Sea.

A short retirement urges a sweet return.

You get social pressure from your parents, who teach you to pay attention to certain things and not to others. You get it in school.

Tact is rubbing out another's mistakes, not rubbing them in.

Whenever you see a gaming table be sure to know fortune is not there. Rather she is always in the company of industry.

Being a parent and having two young kids, I buy Blu-rays and DVDs all the time. It's like buying a toy.

Forgiving people are less likely to be hateful, depressed, hostile, anxious, angry, and neurotic.