The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.

For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.

My father thought of himself as a tradesman. A craftsman.

My father valued patriotism above all other social obligations, but he had his own particular interpretation of just how true patriotism was meant to function.

You didnt grow up in the shadow of John Steinbeck. He put you on his shoulders and gave you all the light you wanted.

I like writing, but I write for self-improvement more than I do for money.

My father believed, like Pericles, that a mans genius could be easily judged by the number of unenlightened fools set in phalanx against his ideas.

Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.

I started writing serious books so late because I knew Id be accused of riding on my fathers coattails.

Since I cant write the greatest American novel, Im going to write the longest American novel.

-He drives recklessly or speeds up when he’s angry.-He punches walls or kicks doors.-He throws things around, even if they don’t hit you.

And the truth is only that we grow and die and wither even as this grass here.

While we can't turn off the aging gene, we do go to a lot of extremes to stay young, I've noticed.

I'm going to try to not put a lot of pressure on myself.

When evil times prevail, take care to preserve the serenity of your hear.

I grew up with classical music blasting in my parents' living room and my older brother's practicing saxophone in his room listening to jazz... a beautiful chaos.

Fish don't know much about water, and people didn't know much about air.

You gotta understand: I'm a man with needs that needs fulfilling. And if you ain't with it, somebody else is willing.

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.

The flaw in, say, austerity, is that its success is predicated on the relative exactitude of math rather than the shifting, liquid imperfection of peoples lives.