A piece of writing has to start somewhere, go somewhere, and sit down when it gets there. - John McPhee

going to have an industrial society you must have places that will look terrible. Other places you set aside — to say, ‘This is the way it was.’

We are surrounded with people who think that what we have been doing for that one-fortieth of a second can go on indefinitely. They are considered normal, but they are stark, raving mad.

Another mantra, which I still write in chalk on the blackboard, is “A Thousand Details Add Up to One Impression.” It’s actually a quote from Cary Grant.