I have three living children for whom this is a father who I want them to love and on whom they're going to have to rely if my disease takes a bad turn.

I was an English major in college, and then I went to graduate school in English at the University of North Carolina for three years.

My job as the mother of daughters is to make sure my children see that every opportunity is available to them.

Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before.

This diagnosis is a reminder that this is the life you've got. And you're not getting another one. Whatever has happened, you have to take this life and treasure and protect it.

It's just a part of our nature to hope.

... all things are possible if you are willing to put yourself on the line. You cannot stand back and hope for the best. You have to act.

You recognize a survivor when you see one. You recognize a fighter when you see one.

A lot of people have great hope, and a lot of people who have great hope live. And, some of them who have great hope die. So it's not that hope is going to save you.

Tabloid news is tabloid news.

We were never a family that had a lot. We had enough, but not a lot.

O God give us our daily bread.

Charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Heroes take journeys confront dragons and discover the treasure of their true selves.

I realize that when I moved out of my father's house I shocked and frightened him because I needed a room of my own, a space of my own to reinvent myself.

Rick Santorum said this week that his 12-year-old could out-reason me about God. Look, I am not about to debate a home-schooled 12-year-old. I have enough trouble with Sarah Palin.

Actually, when I was very young, first starting to play, I think I probably listened more to clarinet players than to saxophones.

What is called matriarchy is simply moral anarchy, in which the mother alone remains fixed because all the fathers are fugitive and irresponsible.

I love to run. I was challenged to run the New York marathon four months after having my youngest son, and since running isn't a big part of softball, the thought of a marathon was a stretch for me.

Now and then genius carries all before it, but not often. We have to climb slowly, with many slips and falls.

The contagious people of Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of increment weather.