Tom bodett

Americans are generally very self-sufficient and I think generally averse to pretension, just as I am.

Mine is not a story to tell struggling writers.

Could the garment and appliance industries be in cahoots together, creating an artificial sock demand to keep us buying?

I originated my own cliches, but I'm finding that's not working for me anymore.

I come from very common stock, and I've always been uncomfortable with pretension and all the forms it can take, including disingenuous broadcasting.

Professor Al Drake encouraged me to just write the way I talk. I decided if that's what I needed to do, I didn't need to be in school to do it.

The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.

It's not like Alaska isn't wilderness - it mostly is. But most Alaskans don't live in the wild. They live on the edge of the wild in towns with schools and cable TV and stores and dentists and roller...

In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

You can make a new friend but you can't make an old one.