If you told people you were moving to Ohio, they wouldn't congratulate you. They'd say "OH WHY would you move there?" as if that was something that happened to you and you had to deal with.

You don't feel like smiling? Then what? Force yourself to smile. Act as if you were already happy, and that will tend to make you happy.

What made something precious? Losing it and finding it.

When you mention to people growing up in Cleveland they bring up the river catching on fire, or LeBron James leaving, they have these references, but no one imagines ending up there.

I would never tell myself, you have to write 20 pages today or something. But I do try to show up. Read what I wrote, fix things.

They never discussed it, but both came to understand it as a promise: he would always make sure there was a place for her. She would always be able to say, Someone is coming. I am not alone.

I think this is something that is naturally built in in people, a need for attention and a need to be special and we are always trying to find a balance.

I am in a mixed race marriage myself, and I have a mixed race son....The racial perception interest is probably always going to be there to some extent.

After a while, the fear became a habit, too.

Being asked, "Where are you REALLY from?" It makes one feel OTHERED.

There is something about Midwest in general, that has kind of an underdog quality.

Everyone basically has one aria to sing over their entire life.

She murdered for her truth, and they had died for theirs.

Go look in the mirror and have a talk with your real boss

Life is a gift. We don't earn it. We don't own it. Learn to be thankful for the time that you have.

Jerusalem is old, Jerusalem is new, Jerusalem can hold Moslem, Christian, Jew.

Moral certainty can deafen people to any truth other than their own.

Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.

She carried the burn of the sun on her body. It was for all of those wasted, dull years.

The human heart is so delicate and sensitive that it always needs some tangible encouragement to prevent it from faltering in its labour.

When it don’t rain, the roof don’t leak; when it rains, I can’t fix it nohow.