I think objects made of wood by children, left to their own devices, if such there be, will assay ten percent wood, ninety percent nails. – Robert Paul Smith, “Where Did You Go?” “Out.” “What Did You Do?” “Nothing.”, 195

All wood is worth logs. – English proverb quoted by Cotgrave, 1611

For a craftsman like my father, nothing is more exasperating than to witness tool abuse. In particular, I remember a steel tape measure he gave me after I had somehow managed to lose the first twelve inches of it. – Richard Menzies, “If I Were A Carpenter,” RDMenzies.com, 2011

Ultimately, literature is nothing but carpentry…. Both are very hard work. Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work… – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, interview, The Paris Review, 1981