Confession makes you a more trustworthy narrator..

I am apt to be harsh in my secret judgments of others, seeing them as defective because they are not enough like me..

The trick is to realize that one is not important, except insofar as one’s example can serve to elucidate a more widespread human trait and make read….

... I vowed that I would always respect the right of an individual to kill himself. Whether suicide was a moral or immoral act I no longer felt sure,….

The knowledge that my discriminations are skewed and not always universally desirable doesn't stop me in the least from making them..

Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience..

If someone in my family is getting emotionally bent out of shape, I've had to learn to adapt..

My other work, teaching, also is satisfying because I can be with people but in controlled circumstances, which aren't as likely to yield the pain of….

Doubt is my boon companion, the faithful St. Bernard ever at my side. Whether writing essays or just going about daily life, I am constantly second-g….

In the best nonfiction, it seems to me, you're always made aware that you are being engaged with a supple mind at work. The story line or plot in non….

It bothers me when I can't, for example, remember a name. I don't know if it's pre-senility or whether there are too many names packed in our brains..

You must read a lot of personal essays - you needn't reinvent the wheel..