“Get on before I blow you lose of your shoes and give your fathers cause to celebrate!”

“You know what talent is? The curse of expectation. As a kid you have to deal with that, beat it somehow. If you can write, you think God put you on earth to blow Shakespeare away. Or if you can paint, maybe you think--I did--that God put you on earth to blow your father away.”

“A book is like a pump. It gives nothing unless first you give to it. You prime a pump with your own water, you work the handle with your own strength. You do this because you expect to get back more than you give.”

“It's as if God gave you something-all those stories- and said, "Here you are. Try not to lose it." But children lose everything unless somebody is there to help them, and if your parents are too stupid to do it, maybe i ought to.”

“Put an egg in your shoe and beat it, make like a tree and leave, imitate an amoeba and split.”

“That thing about don't look up here, you're pissing on your shoes, forinstance, was that humor? Or a growl of rage?--All That You Love Will Be Carried Away.”

“But see that you get on. That's your job in this hard world, to keep your love alive and see that you get on, no matter what. Pull your act together and just go on.”