Laughter is carbonated holiness.

E.L. Doctorow said once said that 'Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.' You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice on writing, or life, I have ever heard.

The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.

Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.

Perfectionism means that you try not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived.

Help" is a prayer that is always answered. It doesn't matter how you pray--with your head bowed in silence, or crying out in grief, or dancing. Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors. Years ago I wrote an essay that began, "Some people think that God is in the details, but I have come to believe that God is in the bathroom.

We all know we're going to die; what's important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.

We religious types, even those who detest organized religion, pray for deeper faith and a greater sense of oneness with God.

Your problem is how you are going to spend this one and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.