A writer is always working with whatever she's managed to store in the brainpan or puzzle out about the world.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

A finished person is a boring person.

There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger.

Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life ... Your entire life ... Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.

Don't always seek the approval of others concerning your goals or dreams. Not everyone wants to see you succeed, just because they are not successful.

Now, I've gotten to the point in my career, I'm 13 years in, to where I know that I'm funny. I know that I'm good at this.

I did plays in high school and I really loved it, but I think singing was always what I loved most of all.

Ah, fool! faint heart fair lady ne'er could win.

There is no scientific study more vital to man than the study of his own brain. Our entire view of the universe depends on it.

Television and comic books are, and continue to be, probably the biggest influence in my life. It's the biggest influence on everybody's life.

Oh, goodie. Let the bloodbath commence. (Zarek)

Inspiration comes only to those who seek it with humility toward their own achievements and reverence toward the achievements of God.

There are photographic fanatics, just as there are religious fanatics. They buy a so-called candid camera there is no such thing: it’s the photographer who has to be candid, not the camera.