“I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get”

“People like Eunice just never had quite figured out how to get along in the world. They might be perfectly intelligent, but they were subject to speckles and flushes; their purses resembled wastepaper baskets; they stepped on their own skirts. ”

“dying, you don't get to see how it all turns out. Questions you have asked will go unanswered forever. Will this one of my children settle down? Will that one learn to be happier? Will I ever discover what was meant by such-and-such?”

“If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all.”

“It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.”

“...it's closeness that does you in. Never get too close to people, son.”

“That was one of the worst things about losing your wife, I found: your wife is the very person you want to discuss it all with.”