Behind the harrows, the long seeders—twelve curved iron penes erected in the foundry, orgasms set by gears, raping methodically, raping without passion. The driver sat in his iron seat and he was prou...
Because he loved true things he tried to explain.
At one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, You can't make a race horse of a pig. Samuel replies, No, but you can make a ve...
Any man of reasonable intelligence can make money if that's what he wants. Mostly it's women or clothes or admiration he really wants and they deflect him.
And, of course, people are interested only in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen.
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate wha...
And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.
And in his dream, Coyotito was reading from a book as large as a house, with letters as big as dogs, and the words galloped and played on the book.
And finally comes culture, which is entertainment, relaxation, transport out of the pain of living.
After the bare requisites to living and reproducing, man wants most to leave some record of himself, a proof, perhaps, that he has really existed. He leaves his proof on wood, on stone or on the lives...
Adam Trask to Cathy: You know about the ugliness in people. You showed me the pictures. You use all the sad, weak parts of a man, and God knows he has them. ... But you-yes, that's right- you don't kn...
A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns alike. And a town has a whole emotion. How news...
A sad soul can kill you quicker, far quicker, than a germ.
A plan is a real thing, and things projected are experienced. A plan once made and visualized becomes reality along with other realities—never to be destroyed but easily to be attacked.
A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his m...
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.
A guy needs somebodyto be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.
A child may ask, What is the world’s story about? And a grown man or woman may wonder, What way will the world go? How does it end and, while we’re at it, what’s the story about?I believe that there i...
War is treachery and hatred, the muddling of incompetent generals, the torture and killing and sickness and tiredness, until at last it is over and nothing has changed except for new weariness and new...
You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.