Because she deserved my tears if anyone on earth ever did. I could feel the tears within me, undiscovered, and untouched in their inland sea. Those tears had been with me always.

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.

The impact of relationships can be subtle yet powerful. Make a conscious effort to them choose wisely.

Your Mistakes don't define you, rather it directs you towards your goal and leads you to victory.

poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.

You never have to choose between being the pure artist or the craven, sellout entertainer. You can be both.

...If you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with this shovel

The most important thing in industry is the person who does the industry, which is the worker... Labor is the only source of wealth.

In the process of telling the truth about what you feel or what you see, each of us has to get in touch with himself or herself in a really deep, serious way.

I want to fight the wussification of the State of Texas. I want to rise and shine and bring back the glory.

You need to marry the qualitative with the quantitative. It better informs us so we can decide what to do. We can't be afraid of data and analysis. We have to use that lens.

He that despairs degrades the Deity, and seems to intimate that He is insufficient, or not just to His word; and in vain hath read the scriptures, the world, and man.