“I came to you a crossbearer on a stretcher and an outcast from humanity, and I went from you a conqueror of life.”

“Memoir is about handing over you life to someone and saying, This is what I went through, this is who I am, and maybe you can learn something from it.”

“Damn right I like the life I live, 'cause I went from negative to positive.”

“All my life, since I came to the Institute, you were the mirror of my soul. I saw the good in me in you. In your eyes alone I found grace. When you are gone from me, who will see me like that?”

“I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.”

“I do eclectic projects. I went from Joan of Arc to Hitler to human trafficking, and they all had its own rewards.”

“Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.”

“You're the outcast / You're the underclass / But you don't care / Because you're living fast
You're the uninvited guest that stays to the end.
I'll be scraping your life from the sole of my shoe tonight" Bring It On Down”

“I watch over you betimes to protect you from wild beasts in human form.”

“Sometimes I’m misunderstood and it’s hard to come by that. My life has been full of excitement. I’ve done pretty much what I wanted to do. I came from the Midwest, from South Dakota, and I came up the hard way. We lived on a farm; we didn’t even have electricity or running water if you know what I mean. People don’t know what that life is like.”