“The worst place to be is in the middle. When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.”

“People who don't have much get ugly about giving up the little they have left.”

“I want to disabuse people of the idea that knowledge is power. Knowing how to get to Detroit is not the same thing as having the bus fare.”

“When you hunt predators, the best camouflage is weakness.”

“Camouflage doesn't help when the other guy is willing to defoliate the whole jungle.”

“Perfection cannot be achieved by men," he told me. "Our highest calling is the pursuit of perfection. My haiku will be finished when I die, but it will never be perfect.”

“He said when the Lord made people He made them all the same for starters. But life marks people. If you know the way, you can read them like maps.”