Everything in my life affects my writing. There are no separate parts of my life.

Anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper... talking about the things that matter to us.

I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers - teaching, writing, and my family.

Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.

To me, family is everything. I want children to realize how important their families are and what a support system a family is.

Many times in my life I've been upset about something and said to myself, "Will this matter in two years?" Not even in two months.

I myself was terrified during the Second World War. The war started when I was six, and I was so sure that we were going to be bombed and killed. My imagination is my biggest plus and my worst minus.

I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write.

Outside of family, writing is essential. To me, it's like breathing.

I cannot outline. I do not know what the next thing is going to happen in the book until it comes out of my fingers.

All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.

Only a person who is motivated in the inner depths of his being will help without hesitation and with no obligation for the one helped.

It was as if the rare joy that had formed in my heart was replaced by a pale shadow threatening to engulf me at that very moment. Victory didn’t matter now. She did!

Knowledge is silver. Outlook is gold. IQ is a lead weight.

I'd like to go away for six months and learn to kiteboard and windsurf. I love pinochle, I love chess and I love windsurfing.

If people see me having dinner with a beautiful woman, they immediately believe that I'm having a love affair with her. Of course that's rubbish. I'm not a playboy!

I try to keep my artistic opinions not so much "to myself" but "on myself."

First my mother was Spanish. Then she became a Jehovahs Witness.

The biggest kick I get is to communicate with those who are exiled from the game - in hospitals, homes, prisons - those who have seldom seen a game, who can't travel to a game, those who are blind.

There is always a risk to follow your bliss, a price to pursue your passion.

You spend money on Internet connection for your employees. Why not spend money on the energy that fuels their brains?