All life connects ... Nothing happens that is meaningless.

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

It's impossible to explain to a Yankee what 'tacky' is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one.

I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the low-country, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders.

I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.

The most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.'

Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me.

Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.

The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.

Don't regret anything you do, because in the end it makes you who you are.

I believe we were right for each other, but not in that moment, which perhaps hindered any possibility of a future.

We have access to practical, ethical and scientifically established methods of birth control. So I think that is the most ethical way to reduce our population.

Who cares if a movie star has an opinion unless the person is very well informed?

I don't think I've ever sent a text to Gordon Brown because I'm confident that he would absolutely have no idea how to receive it. He barely managed to master WordPerfect 4.1.

Instead of looking at difficulties as deprivations, we can learn to recognize them as opportunities for deepening and widening our love.

There is a great relief in experiencing the worst vicariously.

To be reserved, secretive, with a passionate violence that causes suffering.

Don't die to see me, live to love me.

I have learned that promoters can love you, hate you, then love you again.