Here at the sea---especially at the sea---I could hear my sister’s voice in the waves: “Kira-kira! Kira-kira!

I almost never slept deeply anymore--as soon as she said my name, I always sat up immediately, no matter how tired I was.

Watch out for life ... It's harder than it looks.

For me, books are music for my mind and my imagination. When I am stuck in something I'm writing, I simply read my way out of being stuck. You can never waste time reading.

you could see the roads crisscrossing over the fields. When cars went by, far away, the beams were so bright they seemed to be ropes of light pulling the cars behind.

It took seven years from the day I decided I wanted to write fiction to actually getting a book published.

I love writing about people on the road.

The blue of the sky is one of the most special colors in the world, because the color is deep but see-through both at the same time.

Why would a book in which hardly anything happened for most of the time eat at me so much? It was the weirdest thing

It sounded so weird when people called shoyu "soy sauce." It made it sound like Tabasco or something instead of the clean and perfect thing that it was.

Truths are written, never said... Lines are drawn, but then they fade.

SE Self Execution the act will always be greater than the pain.

I find people interesting. People trying hard are interesting. People with a passion are interesting - whether it's old cars or taxidermy or knitting.

As a person you want to be respected. Respect is always important to me.

In the 1950s in Columbia, South Carolina, it was considered OK for kids to play with weird things. We could go to the hardware store and buy 100 feet of dynamite fuse.

We become so numb to what we're saying.

Being a scrub was undesirable and hard work, living in crowded conditions with no privacy and just being one of many. Undistinguishable.

People here are funny. They work so hard at living, they forget how to live.

Music is an element that should be part and parcel of every child's life via the education system.