Writing is "like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights illuminate, but you can make the whole trip that way, you see." --E.L. Doctorow

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When the San Francisco Chronicle described writer Barry Lopez as "the nation's premier nature writer," Lopez responded, "I'm not writing about nature. I'm writing about humanity. And if I have a subject, it is justice. And the rediscovery of the manifold way in which our lives can be shaped by the recovery of a sense of reverence for life." Lopez also said, "Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion." --quoted in The Writer's Almanac

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"Craftsmanship should apply to all of life, and [...] its core value is the work itself." --Morris Berman in The Twilight of American Culture