Be nice to everyone, always smile & appreciate things because it could all be gone tomorrow.

I want to get married and have children and live happily ever after. That's important to me.

I don't have to hide or be somebody I'm not. I don't have to compromise. I can just be myself.

I think if you show up and you work hard and you're straightforward, you can always create your own opportunities. I hope I'm right.

Life is too short to be serious

If people are taking pictures of me at Starbucks, it's not the end of the world. It's cool, it's fun, it's exciting.

Just be you...'cause that's good enough for me!

I've got the rest of my life to be a grown-up. And for now, it's OK to be young.

I'm lucky on so many counts - I'm lucky to be alive.

The show must go on all over the place or something.

It's all about perseverance. Absolute perseverance. You can always get back up.

Alessandra approached the geniuses of the past to give them life with her attention, which was the form her affection took: paying attention.

The way I saw it, if my students were willing to pretend I was a teacher, the least I could do was return the favor and pretend that they were writers.

For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair.

I always feel sad when I come to the end of a book.

Being from the Midwest, I would say that I like that East Coast mentality, it's more direct. What you see is what you get.

In America, one sure sign of success is the presence of an unnecessary waterfall in a person's yard.

Trying to solve the mystery is what I enjoy most about writing.

Productivity is a relative matter. And it's really insignificant: What is ultimately important is a writer's strongest books.

Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody.

Wine to me is passion. It's family and friends. It's warmth of heart and generosity of spirit.