I was raised to speak out about politics and the world around me. I would do it whether I was in the public or not. It is the way I was taught. The American way

I may like the Blizzard best, of all the songs I have written

The powerful men in my life have always believed in me: my husband, my son

Experience is how life catches up with us and teaches us to love and forgive each other.

I look in the mirror through the eyes of the child that was me.

Irish Alzheimer's: you forget everything except the grudges

Do what you love, and you will find the way to get it out to the world.

When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!

Recovering from the suicide of a loved one, you need all the help you can get.

It is true that I have had heartache and tragedy in my life. These are things none of us avoids. Suffering is the price of being alive.

... even the devil works for God.

They looked to each other for support, for strength, and at times, motivation, to remember why and for whom they lived.

And of all the rooms in my childhood, God was the largestand most empty.

But morning casts a harsh light over things, and the stark reality is that some things are easier to walk away from than to lose forever. But that doesn’t mean that this doesn’t hurt.

If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do is to study the words of those who were.

You see persons and things not as they are but as you are.

Nature is all the body of God we mortals will ever see.

In a way, the cancer became an ally because it stopped me from running around so much. I was able to settle down and write things I hadn't had a chance to before.

If you make it into an Olympic team, you're good; if you make it into an Olympic final, you're great; and if you win an Olympic medal you're a freak.

I have a tendency to think of myself as the mutt of the litter. I'm not purebred.

The Christian faith gives us a new conception of work as the means by which God loves and cares for his world through us.