I often want things to make definite statements. If I order onions sliced thinly on my hamburger, I don't want them to come out sort of medium. But that doesn't mean it's a reasonable desire, in all things.

All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.

You have to do bad things in order to become a hero. You have to make sacrifices.

The primary thing writing and basketball share is the sense that each time you go out, each time you play or begin a piece, it's a new day. You can score 40 points one game, but the next game, those points don't count. You can win the Nobel Literature Prize, but that doesn't make the next sentence of the next book appear.

Make a careful list of all things done to you that you abhorred. Don't do them to others, ever.

The things that stand out are often the oddities.