Have We Come All This Way, I

You Can't Learn Anything From Saguaro Cactus, From Ocotillo. They Are Just Passing Through; Their Roots, Their Much Heralded Dormancy In The Dry Season, These Are Only Illusions Of Permanence. They Know Even Less Than You Do.

When I Sit At That Typewriter, I Have To Be Frightened Of What I'm Trying To Do. I'm Frightened By My Own Belief That I Can Actually Get A Story Down On Paper.

The Most Intelligent Thing We Can Do Is Love, Not Reason.

To Allow Mystery, Which Is To Say To Yourself, 'there Could Be More...things We Don't Understand,' Is Not To Damn Knowledge....it Is To Permit Yourself An Extraordinary, Freedom: Someone Else Does Not Have To Be Wrong In Order That You Might Be Right...this Tolerance For Mystery Invigorates The Imagination; And It Is The Imagination That Gives Shape To The Universe.

The Cold View To Take Of Our Future Is That We Are Therefore Headed For Extinction In A Universe Of Impersonal Chemical, Physical, And Biological Laws. A More Productive, Certainly More Engaging View, Is That We Have The Intelligence To Grasp What Is Happening, The Composure Not To Be Intimidated By Its Complexity, And The Courage To Take Steps That May Bear No Fruit In Our Lifetimes.