… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.

Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.

Never confuse faith, or belief — of any kind — with something even remotely intellectual.

Keep passing the open windows.

Half my life is an act of revision.

You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else.

I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to be an actor or a writer, you better have a thick skin.

It is hard work and great art to make life not so serious.

If you don't feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn't very vital.

. . .There are moments when time does stop. We must be alert enough to notice such moments . . .

Misogyny… is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who is confronted with it.

All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music.

Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.

I called Vee. "How are you doing?" I asked. "Good. How are you?" "Good." Silence. "Okay," Vee said in a rush, "I am still totally freaked out. You?" "Totally.

The UN could help the Iraqi government get on its feet and help the United States withdraw a bit more.

California ... produces the maximum of scenery and the minimum of weather.

We should make virtue our master, not our servant.

As a writer, I think your first job is to find a subject that you think you and others will find inherently interesting.

There are things that outweigh comfort, unless one is an old woman or a cat.