“If there is any irreverence in my own work, I hope it is the irreverence I bear in mistrusting my own sincere self, which then sincerely mistrusts the irreverent me. If there is a bottom to this, I think it is a life’s work.”

“Irreverence is a way of playing hooky and remaining present at the same time.”

“I like to read becauseit kills me.”

“You’ve always called me irreverent. You’ve branded me irreverent. In my mind you invented irreverent.”

“It's that a bit of irreverence is necessary to have any self-esteem at all. Not irreverence for people, but rather, for what other people think.”

“Something unpronounceablefollowed by a long silencepoints out my lifeis becoming a landscape.”

“I study nature so as not to do foolish things.”