I am a summer person.

Sometimes you regret the things you do, but they're over and done. Regretting the things you didn't do is tougher because they're still out there, haunting you with the what ifs.

When you peered into the windows of someone else's life, you could only guess what was going on.

To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is to be forgotten.

Guilt and no guilt: these were the worst things. The only thing worse than the guilt was the fear of getting caught.

Iowa City is okay as Midwestern cities go, but theres no food, no culture, no ocean.

For graduate school I ended up going to the University of Iowa, which is, of course, the best graduate writing program in the country.

One is never too young for fine literature . . .

...Every life contains a novel.

Nothing was a natural predator of productive fiction writing like the cell phone. Ditto the laptop. As she had well learned, the laptop could destroy a day.

Meredith immersed herself in the novels. For some reason, fiction hit on the meaning of life so much more concisely than real life itself did.

It was great to have a Republican character as likeable as Alan Alda was in the West Wing. He was one Republican I would probably vote for; he was old school.

Strive with all your might to bring your interior activity into accord with God, and you will overcome exterior passions.

Born in a stable, Cradled in a manger, In the world His hands have made, Born a stranger.

I'm Howard Stern with a vocabulary. I'm the man he wishes he could be.

It can be a miserable profession, acting, because you always want what you can’t have.

False love is only blinder.

I have to pick myself up every day and say, 'The show must go on,' meaning life as I know it must go on, whatever the obstacle is, I know I can handle it, and I can get through it.

It's pretty rare to have CEOs or high level executives at big companies who are social activists. They tend not to be drawn to those areas of life.

All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.

...if you get confused, just listen to the music play.