You’re always making up stuff from the past, ” she said. “And the stuff you imagine is always better than the stuff that actually happened.

What is it like to be a Spokane Indian without wild salmon? It is like being a Christian if Jesus had never rolled back the stone and risen from his tomb.

I often wonder why I am the one who remember all the pain?

There are family mysteries I cannot solve. There are family mysteries I am unwilling to solve.

An Indian’s wealth   Is determined by what they lose And not by what they save.

Great pain is repetitive. Grief is repetitive.

I didn’t yet know that romantic heroes—famous and not—are usually aimless nomads in disguise.

There was, for many of us, a great escape in reading about the fantastic and supernatural during wartime. Terrors more terrible than those we were living through gave us an outlet for our anxiety.

All is flux, nothing stays still

It sounds to me, dear, as if your satirist is a bit like a monk. They both take a rather dim view of the world, and both try to do something abou

There's no choice that doesn't mean a loss.

Even a best fountain-pen cannot make a writer be a fount of eloquence, but fountains teach to sob with ecstasy.

Every artist has to make their own statements and they have to live with them.

The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you may have.

I've always believed in God. I remember once a guy asked me what it was like to be self-employed. I said, I'm not self employed. I work for God. The pay is good; He works me hard.

Sometimes the best gear for a climb is a good excuse.

I'm confident in the American people.