I think my books talk about kids learning to like and respect themselves and each other. You can't write a message book; you just tell the best story you know how to tell

Pistachio nuts, the red ones, cure any problem.

When my father would yell at me, I told myself someday I'd use it in a book.

I want to keep meeting new people, enlarging my circle of friends. I have great friends now... really good people. But I'm always ready for what comes next

Good writing is remembering detail. Most people want to forget. Don't forget things that were painful or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that tells the truth.

Normally, I name my characters after famous comedians.

My father was a very unhappy person, very sarcastic, and my mother was very nervous and worried about what people thought. They weren't monsters, but it wasn't a good childhood.

I'm very lucky. I'm very fortunate that my books have never gone out of print - none of them

We spend our whole lives recovering from high school.

I made the choice long ago to write about real life. And life is both serious and funny.

Sometimes it's easier to show than it is to tell

Jesus takes the chaos of the world upon Himself.

All great works start with mistake. Ain’t no exception in this fact.

You have two options. work on someone else's ideas and make some money or generate ideas make them work and become a millionaire.

I didnt know what architecture was except that I lived in a house. I dont even think that I knew the word for a long time. My dad funneled me into engineering because it was his background.

I say, I believe, that one must love with all of one's being.

We would like to get to a point in our society where people really are colorblind and this message would not have to be told anymore. Unfortunately, we're not there yet.

There is a very intimate connection between hypnotic phenomena and religion.

Much can be learned in play that will afterwards be of use when the circumstances demand it.

Giving up and doing something else (nursing, for me) was exactly what eventually led me to making music that other people wanted to hear.

To be a Naturalist is better than to be a King.