Could do anything

"My father, my rational ally, who by his own testimony had married my mother because 'she was always a good writer and I thought a good writer could do anything,' and who chafed against her romantic nature ever since, encouraged me to be a scientist and discouraged me from fancy writing."

-- Jonathan Franzen, who ended up becoming a pretty good writer himself, remembers his father (and his mother) in The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History.