For many years I didn't have health insurance....

In fact, there's a lot to legitimately hate about pro sports and the way they are conducted.

I was a ballplayer, but only for a limited time. I grew up playing in Wisconsin. It's a very sports-centric part of the country that I grew up in and I played a lot of sports, but baseball first and foremost. I played through high school. I was a middle-infielder.

You know, it's sort of common wisdom among New York publishers that short story collections don't make money.

After you're older, two things are possibly more important than any others: health and money.

You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned.

Talk is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money, it is all profit, it completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health.

My age and health will never allow me to realize the dream of art I've been pursuing all my life.