I believe we owe it to each other to tell stories. It's as close to a credo as I have or will, I suspect, ever get.

Writing's a lot like cooking. Sometimes the cake won't rise, no matter what you do, and every now and again the cake tastes better than you ever could have dreamed it would.

We wrapped our dreams in words and patterned the words so that they would live forever, unforgettable.

Do not lose hope — what you seek will be found. Trust ghosts. Trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn. Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story. (from 'Instructions')

Recounting the strange is like telling one's dreams: one can communicate the events of a dream, but not the emotional content, the way that a dream can colour one's entire day.

Know that diamonds and roses are as uncomfortable when they tumble from one's lips as toads and frogs: colder, too, and sharper, and they cut.

On the whole, stories don't write themselves.

Never use five words if you can get away with one, eh? I've known dead men talk more than you do.

I was not so old that I would deny my own senses.

If we do not fight to create a future there will be no future for any of us.

Because stories start in minds-- they aren't artifacts or natural phenomena.

The problem with setting goals is that they can be limiting.  Perhaps we're asking for something good when God's will is that we be given something great.

The happiest folks are those that are busy, for their minds are starved of time to seek out woe. -The Crone's Eyes

With stammering lips and insufficient sound I strive and struggle to deliver right the music of my nature.

I prefer to be busy all day long, and when you work for someone else, you're not busy enough.

I cannot put this poison on my skin. I do not use anything synthetic.

The Christian way is a life of faith. In order to hold on to the promises of God, you've got to believe them and live by them.

In America, what makes us so successful is the innovation, the competition, the focus on merit.

Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye.

A life which did not touch the life of others is a wasted life!

Everyone in the world was programmed by the place they were born, hemmed in by their beliefs, but you had to at least try to grow your own brain.