“Avoid the flourish. Do not be afraid to be weak. Do not be ashamed to be tired. You look good when you’re tired. You look like you could go on forever. Now come into my arms. You are the image of my beauty .”

“It’s a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired you quit when the gorilla is tired.”

“Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do onething. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let thebody tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up.It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body isnever tired if the mind is not tired. When you were youngerthe mind could make you dance all night, and the body wasnever tired... You've always got to make the mind take overand keep going.”

“You look tired.""Yeah," I agreed, and shrugged. "Near-death experiences do that to me . . .”

“Write me what you're wearing! Is it warm? Write me how you lie! Do you lie there softly? Write me how you look! Is it still the same? Write me what you're missing! Is it my arm? Write me how you are! Have you been spared? Write me what they're doing! Do you have enough courage? Write me what you're doing! Is it good? Write me, who are you thinking of? Is it me? Freely, I've given you only my questions. And I hear the answers, how they fall. When you're tired, I can't carry it for you. If you're hungry, I have nothing for you to eat. And so now I leave the world No longer there, as if I've forgotten you.”

“I won’t offer you a tired admonition to avoid my path. I won’t advise you to stay on the straight and narrow. I won’t suggest that you make good choices. I won’t even tell you to do the right thing. You can get that kind of advice from teachers and parents and TV evangelists, and if you are like me, you wouldn’t listen anyway. I just make one suggestion.Know what path you’re on.”