“Words and phrases grew only slowly”

“There is an impression abroad that literary folk are fast readers. Wine tasters are not heavy drinkers. Literary people read slowly because they sample the complex dimensions and flavors of words and phrases. They strive for totality not lineality. They are well aware that the words on the page have to be decanted with the utmost skill. Those who imagine they read only for "content" are illusioned.”

“One bulb at a time. There was no other way to do it. No shortcuts--simply loving the slow process of planting. Loving the work as it unfolded. Loving an achievement that grew slowly and bloomed for only three weeks each year.”

“...He was just scraps of words and dislocated phrases.”

“The shapes arranged themselves into words, and the words spelled out a delicious and wonderful phrase: Once upon a time.”

“But that was all teachers ever did, wasn’t it? They grew and grew and grew until they wondered if they were the only ones growing, and then they shrank and shrank and shrank… and all the while the children grew sharper.”