I thought I’d been condescended to as an Indian - that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing Y.A.

Everybody likes to have a place to think, to meditate, to eat a burrito.

If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.

He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.

Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.

If you teach kids how to tell stories, they have a better chance at everything.

What kind of life can you have in a house without books?

Don't live up to your stereotypes.

When you resort to violence to prove a point, you’ve just experienced a profound failure of imagination.

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

Do you know why the Indian rain dances always worked? Because the Indians would keep dancing until it rained.

The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.

Drugs in a disco are great for white people because it allows them to feel more Puerto Rican while dancing.

An overdose of praise is like 10 lumps of sugar in coffee; only a very few people can swallow it.

The truth is true wherever you find it. Remember, sugar is sweet whether you find it in a sugar bowl or a dust pan.

The strong conquer the weak. The weak serve the strong and hope to become strong so they can conquer others who are weaker.

If you make the choice to serve the public, public service, then serve the public, not yourself.

We must all take care to resist the tendency to focus too much attention on the role that criminals and prior offenders play in gun violence.

You have two choices in life. You either die or do something with your time. You're going to be doing something - why not write?

Finding beauty in the dissonance.

With whose imperfections will you bear, and what insult are you capable of enduring, if a thoughtless word from your own Superior is unbearable?