Strange about parents. We have such easy access to them and such daunting problems of communication.

The day is breaking someone else's heart.

Before trying a novel I wrote a couple of plays.

At college I'd seen my dead frog's limbs twitch under some applied stimulus or other - seen, but hadn't believed. Didn't dream of thinking beyond or around what I saw.

Class is classlessness.

The simplest science book is over my head.

Arthur Young's Reflexive Universe - fascinating but too schematic to fit into my scheme. The most I could hope for was a sense of the vocabulary and some possible images.

But those two plays left me on fresh terms with language. I didn't always have to speak in my own voice.

In life, there are no perfect affections.

I used to believe that culture was “soft, ” and had little bearing on our bottom line. What I believe today is that our culture has everything to do with our bottom line, now and into the future.

As a writer, the main skill you need is curiosity. As a reader, the main tool you need is open-mindedness.

For an inheritance to be really great the hand of the defunct must not be seen.

Be truthful, nature only sides with truth.

Honestly, I didn't have the patience for biology or history in an academic sense, but I always liked the kind of big questions.

High performing organizations have cultures of creativity and risk. They encourage workers to innovate and play.

I am here [in Washington] following through on what I pledged to do. That's all I'm doing.

I have voted for a Republican for president ever since I was voting and since I was 18 years old.

If you want someone to be your mentor, you better be ready to listen and be humbled.

You are. I'm just fatalistically cheerful. We all come into the story halfway through, we all catch up as best we can, and we're all gonna die before it ends.