It is always pitiful when any human being falls into a condition hardly more respectable than that of an animal. How much more pitiful it is when the… - Kurt Vonnegut

You learn about life by the accidents you have, over and over again, and your father is always in your head when that stuff happens. Writing, most of the time, for most people, is an accident and your father is there for that, too. You know, I taught writing for a while and whenever somebody would tell me they were going to write about their dad, I would tell them they might as well go write about killing puppies because neither story was going to work. It just doesn't work. Your father won't let it happen.

We've sure come a long way since then. Sometimes I wish we hadn't. I hate H-bombs and the Jerry Springer show.

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.