He obviously needed more practice, but no matter how often I abandoned him out there, his sense of direction never seemed to improve.

I want you to have big dreams, big goals. I want you to strive to achieve them. But I don't want to see you beating yourself up every time you make a mistake.

when times are tough, the weak bail and the tough get creative.

Wow. The guy can make me feel stupid even when he's telling me I don't have to let him make me feel stupid.

The rottweiler stood his ground and waited for me to take the next step in the dance of ritualized intimidation. Instead, I leaped at him. Screw ritual. Now was not the time to stand on ceremony.

Kids who don't eavesdrop on adult conversations are doomed to a childhood of ignorance.

Remembering. Forgetting. I'm not sure which is worse.

A name is so important. A surname connects you to your past, to your family. Even a given name has meaning - why did your parents pick that particular one?

First you buy me a mocha. Then you let me help you hide a body. Now you take me to a biker clubhouse. Best. Day. Ever.

He was trying to tell me something.' Derek snorted. 'Aren’t they all? Must be a rule in the ghost handbook—if in danger of evaporating, make sure you’re in the middle of a dire pronouncement.

I grew up writing about the paranormal, and I blame too many Saturday mornings watching Scooby Doo.

She had storms all her life, but she died peacefully.

I swear to you that to think too much is a disease, a real, actual disease.

Thanks, Pepe. You've put an extra night into my life. I would have spent it just sleeping like an ox, but I've lived it instead. I'm grateful.

I know somebody from university who's called Phil Collins, and I think there's something terribly unfortunate about sharing a name with somebody who either is famous or becomes famous.

Melody has a certain way that it projects back to you. It triggers certain nerves in your body and certain instincts that normally wouldn't be triggered by a normal voice.

You must find the strength to open the wounds, stick your hands inside, pull out the core of the pain that is holding you in your past, the memories, and make peace with them.

I prefer to concentrate on my task of leading Europe to the success that our citizens expect. We have to look forwards now because what is at stake is what makes Europe Europe.

There is no greater grief than to find no happiness, but happiness in what is past.

All writers of fiction will at some point find themselves abandoning a piece of work - or find themselves putting it aside, as we gently say.

The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading.