Writing criticism is to writing fiction and poetry as hugging the shore is to sailing in the open sea.

We are most alive when we're in love.

Life is a nacho. It can be yummy-crunchy or squishy-yucky. It just depends on how long it takes for you to start eating it.

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.

You cannot help but learn more as take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is and old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.

A leader is one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself the woe of the people. There are few men so foolish, hence the erratic quality of leadership in the world.

Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home, wondering why the hell you went.

The scissors cut the long-grown hair; The razor scrapes the remnant fuzz. Small-jawed, weak-chinned, big-eyed, I stare At the forgotten boy I was.

It is easy to love people in memory; the hard thing is to love them when they are there in front of you.

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

So much love, too much love, it is our madness, it is rotting us out, exploding us like dandelion polls.

Who you are is what you wish to be.

I heard silence, silence infinite as the bottom of the ocean, a silence that sealed.

I call him free who is led solely by reason.

If you look at the newspapers here - the Washington papers - most of the discussion deals with campaign gossip.

Since age twelve, I've felt like I'm someone else,'cause I hung my original self from the top bunk with a belt.

I came to America so that I could work with the best and be the best.

The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man was the idea that somehow he could make himself good enough to deserve to live with an all-holy God.

There's something very refreshing about being on stage.

To deny our pasts is to burn the bridge we must cross to self-understanding.

My personal style and public style are very different. When I go out, I play dress up.