How bless'd the heart that has a friend. A sympathizing ear to lend.

With fingers weary and worn, With eyelids heavy and red, A woman sat in unwomanly rags, Plying her needle and thread.

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds - November!

Dear bells! how sweet the sound of village bells When on the undulating air they swim!

My tears must stop, for every drop Hinders needle and thread.

Coquetry is the champagne of love.

There's a double beauty whenever a swan Swims on a lake with her double thereon.

Some minds improve by travel, others, rather, resemble copper wire, or brass, which get the narrower by going farther.

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.

I remember, I remember, The house where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn.

Gold! gold! gold! gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold!

Cliches are the viruses that infect your writing with diseases.

Corruption, the greatest single bane of our society today.

A lot of people have warned President Clinton that Bosnia will turn into another Vietnam, which would be embarrassing for him because he'll have to go back to college.

It's not a bad idea to be single, so I can concentrate on my job.

In order to change the world, I guess a person would have to really get his head together first before he can say anything to the world, to change it.

I picture my books as movies when I get stuck, and when I'm working on a new idea, the first thing I do is hit theaters to work out pacing and mood.

When there is no peril in the fight there is no glory in the triumph.

The most important thing is to keep creating and following my inklings as they come into being and acting on them.

I won the first contest I ever entered, when I was 6.

Let God enlarge you when you are going through distress. He can do it. You can't do it, and others can't do it for you.