In the family sandwich, the older people and the younger ones can recognize one another as the bread. Those in the middle are, for a time, the meat.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

A finished person is a boring person.

There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger.

Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life ... Your entire life ... Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.

I once went a whole summer without seeing the sun. I would play all night, then sleep all day.

Being too happy is bad for you. 8 on 1 10-scale is just right. Eg. cancer patients are more likely to survive if they're at an 8 instead of 9 or 10.

I have never understood why the politicians who are most eager to send soldiers into harm's way are always depicted as their most ardent friends.

There is, in addition to a courage with which men die; a courage by which men must live.

There can be no such thing as "limited government," because there is no way to control an entity that in principle enjoys a monopoly of power.

I mean some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to their funeral.

It's amazing how people can surprise you.

To swear, except when necessary, is becoming to an honorable man. [Lat., In totum jurare, nisi ubi necesse est, gravi viro parum convenit.]

I see the dance being used as a means of express what is too deep, too fine for words.

I always wore sneakers when I wanted to. It was always about being comfortable and being myself.