Everything we are is anchored in our childhoods. The drama comes in how we deal with it. Are we slaves to our past, or can we rise above it? This is the stuff of great stories.

A dog could see your heart in your eyes, Budress told him, and dogs were drawn to our hearts.

She asked me why I always had something flip to say. I said that I didn't know, but having been blessed with the gift, I felt obliged to use it.

Everyone knows dogs. Most people love dogs. I think most American families probably have a dog, but I don't think people really realize or understand just how wonderful and special dogs are.

Dogs give us something just as we give something to them.

The sense of smell in all dogs is their primary doorway to the world around them.

Lucy took a single plain donut from the bag and held it for me to take a bite. Tender and light and still warm from the frying. Not too sugary.

Sometimes I am so dry that people don't know I'm kidding and think I'm being serious. I enjoy this because their reactions are often funny.

People want you to be ordinary.

My books come to me in images, and sometimes the image is at the beginning of the book, and sometimes it's simply a flash somewhere in the middle.

My family was all police and hard hats at the refineries; they didn't know what to think about me. So I became a closet writer.

magic can make things happen before you do it. It can make things have happened.

When the rich think about the poor, they have poor ideas.

Western States keep playing with, and around, Russia.

A summons home to the nature that nourishes the best human qualities of creativity, intelligence, connection, and compassion.

The moderation of people in prosperity is the effect of a smooth and composed temper, owing to the calm of their good fortune.

When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world.

Ah, words are poor receipts for what time hath stole away.

I'm very intelligent. I'm capable of doing everything put to me. I've launched a perfume and want my own hotel chain. I'm living proof blondes are not stupid.

I wanted to become a champ - I was surrounded by champs in my family and in my neighborhood - and because of this stupid accident, I lost my opportunity.

Let the League of Nations say whatever it pleases, let America offer whatever interference, let China decry Japan's action at the top of her voice, but Japan must adhere to her course unswervingly.