Quote

My life has been long, and believing that life loves the liver of it, I have dared to try many things, sometimes trembling, but daring still.

I have a tough stomach, and I've put myself through a lot. But when I first found out what happens to animals on modern factory farms and in today's slaughterhouses, I wanted to throw up - I literally couldn't believe it.

I don't want to be in a position that could make me vomit, like air travel. I've purloined airsick bags and stuffed them everywhere, just in case I ever feel the need to throw up. I haven't vomited since 1977, but I think about it all the time. I recognize that it's irrational, but I'd rather jump out of a window than vomit.

Having a baby dragged me, kicking and screaming, from the world of self-absorption.

Life's fairly excruciating. Painful things happen. Every now and then, you drag yourself out of the stream and stand on the bank gasping for air. I think that's how I work.

Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me out of myself.

When you're used to being healthy and strong and vibrant and everything and then - bang - overnight you're desperately ill, it's frightening.

This fear of death infused me with the desire to live, and to live harder.

My life has been a series of emergencies.