Cities fell. Earth opened. Planets tilted. Stars plummeted. And the awful silence.

I've had aunts and uncles who not only haven't read my books but could hardly believe that I was a writer.

I had my bully, and it was excruciating. Not only the bully, but the intimidation I felt.

It's amazing that the heart makes no noise when it cracks.

Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil.

And he did see--that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn't trust anybody, not even yourself.

Why did the wise guys always accuse other people of being wise guys?

They don't actually want you to do your own thing, not unless it's their thing too.

I have lived a thousand lives lost within the pages of a book.

The possibility that hope comes out of hopelessness and that the opposite of things carry the seeds of birth - love out of hate, good out of evil. Didn't flowers grow out of dirt?

Affection is one of the most neglected words in the English language, that people throw the word love around like confetti when they mean affection.

Fear produces action, but would never create followers

A state is a perfect body of free men united together to enjoy common rights and advantages.

You are my heart, my life, my one and only thought.

Make your decision for what is right not expedient, and wash your mind of all compromise.

If death causes you no pain when you're dead, it is foolish to allow the fear of it to cause you pain now.

I've taken my bumps and bruises, but you've got to be willing to get knocked down and pick yourself up. You can't get discouraged. You can't lose sight of what your goals are.

I’m freakishly tall, so finding pants that fit is something I’ve struggled with my whole life.

Intolerance, discourtesy and harshness..... are taboo in all good society and are surely contrary to the spirit of democracy.

Though I knew I shouldn’t have cared, the words still hurt like pinches, and pinches can be very painful when done in the same place many times in a row.

I've always believed in expansionary monetary policy and if necessary fiscal policy when the economy is depressed.