“Adverbs are a sign that you’ve used the wrong verb.”

We have not yet encountered any god who is as merciful as a man who flicks a beetle over on its feet.

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time…give it, give it all, give it now.

People love pretty much the same things best. A writer looking for subjects inquires not after what he loves best, but after what he alone loves at all.

I would like to learn, or remember, how to live.

The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest.

You can’t test courage cautiously.

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days.

The real and proper question is: why is it beautiful

It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale.

Books swept me away, this way and that, one after the other; I made endless vows according to their lights for I believed them.

The dedicated life is worth living. You must give with your whole heart.

We are most deeply asleep at the switch when we fancy we control any switches at all.

The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out.

You can serve or you can sing, and wreck your heart in prayer, working the world’s hard work.

We live in all we seek.

He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know.

You don’t realize how much you use your credit card not even to buy things. It’s a card you get so you can navigate society.

Use your imagination only on the future, never on the present or the past.

I know she’s just trying to make things nice, so I do my part. Now, when I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I turn on the light. I used to just go by sonar: just keep peeing ’til you hear water.

Of course on air I use occasional hyperbole to tell a story.

I didn’t lose my virginity until I was 18 The first time was a nightmare. Who shows you how to use a condom?

Working in kitchens with Mexicans you always listen to the Spanish channel and that’s what I use. Whenever I cook I think of Spanish music, so I always have to listen to some sort of salsa. It gets your body going.

Once a sage asked why scholars always flock to the doors of the rich, whilst the rich are not inclined to call at the doors of scholars. ‘

Learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid being one whose mistakes are used as lessons by others.