I startled a weasel who startled me, and we exchanged a long glance. . . . Our eyes locked, and someone threw away the key.

Appealing workplaces are to be avoided. One wants a room with no view, so imagination can meet memory in the dark.

Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first excitement dwindles.

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.

You can't test courage cautiously.