I do a lot of mental work before I ever start writing.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

A finished person is a boring person.

There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger.

Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life ... Your entire life ... Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.

The Antichrist . . . will be the embodiment of evil, and will have great power to deceive those who choose to follow him.

The best lie was always just short of the truth.

Planning is not my friend. Impulse is.

In real life as in grand opera, arias only make hopeless situations worse.

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

Comedy is taken care of by a free market.

Logic is the kingdom of the unexpected. To think logically means to be continually amazed.

If you do your job right, no one realizes you did your job, and that's a good thing. You strive for that.

Once more on my adventure brave and new.

A grenade launcher will easily take out a tank; a Molotov cocktail placed in its air intake will destroy one as well.