We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when He made life so sad. We made vague plans to meet in Frisco.

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.

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

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.

The desirable elements of life that appear unreachable to the unambitious serve as mere destinations to the determined mind.

Always remember that most truths are comparative and not absolute.

Dreaming great dreams.

Death is not fearful. What's fearful is giving up.

With a lot of people you think you want to work with, you reach out to them about working and then realize you don't want to anymore because they're a complete dickhead.

Running to Mommy and Daddy on the campus grievance committee is unworthy of strong women.

I'm a moderate. I hang out in the middle. I vote against my party with some regularity and try to compromise. It doesn't appear right now that the Republican Party is welcoming moderates any more.

Better spare to have of thine own, then aske of other men. [Better spare to have of thine own than ask of other men.]

We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.

Real talent will get through whatever the obstacles.