I was suddenly left with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars.

But why think about that when all the golden lands ahead of you and all kinds of unforseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?

I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future.

This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do.

There was nothing to talk about anymore. The only thing to do was go.

We wandered in a frenzy and a dream (301).

Hell man, I know very well you didn't come to me only to want to become a writer, and after all what do I really know about it except that you've got to stick to it with the energy of a benny addict.

...but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing.

And I said, 'That last thing is what you can't get, Carlo. Nobody can get to that last thing. We keep on living in hopes of catching it once and for all.

I suddenly began to realize that everybody in America is a natural-born thief.

A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world.

From beginning to end, our Christian lives— highs and lows, fasting and fornication— are a tapestry of grace.Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us (p. 31).

Envisioning the end is enough to put the means in motion.

The collision of a great man with a great idea strikes fire in dry flax.

It [European Union] has kept the peace in Europe. Countries used to fight and now they talk. We should be attached to that.

The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.

You've got to sing like you don't need the money.

A single feat of daring can alter the whole conception of what is possible.

It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing, 8 weeks for your friends to notice, & 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice. Give it 12 weeks. Don't quit.

I think I have become a better writer since having children. It improves creativity, particularly because once you have children it makes you realise the story isn’t about you.

How truly blessed we shall be if at the price of even very great sacrifices we shall have made God known and loved by one more soul!