“A man's accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.”

“One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay attention to those details of life which differentiate them from you.”

“He was a secret agent, and still alive thanks to his exact attention to the detail of his profession.”

“What careful planning, what painstaking attention to detail, goes into extinguishing a man's life! Far more than the hit-or-miss, haphazard circumstances of igniting it.("New York Blues")”

“But how could he admire Joyce’s lengthy, libidinal ‘yes’ so fervently and end up saying ‘no’ to his own life? I suppose that a lifetime spent hiding one’s erotic truth could have a cumulative renunciatory effect. Sexual shame is in itself a kind of death.”

“Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.”