In the fleeting light she saw the meadow, dotted with stunted hawthorns, their twisted limbs dense with red berries, and then a shape: achingly familiar, child-sized, shockingly still.

Autumn began to run. She felt an icy terror flood through her. He must have been waiting for her. He’d followed her all the way here. To this open, empty place. He knows where I live.

There was no sign of her daughter, no sign of a small body crumpled by the railway.

it wasn’t until the train went past that she saw the small body lying in the long grass by the side of the wood.

Only one small, pale spot on her cheek was visible where her skin, free of blood, gleamed, as polished as bone.

And even then, it might not have been too awful, but his head snapped back and he hit a rock, breaking like a blunt molar from the ground.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us... Save my little girl...

Stop to kiss, the kissing gatedemands, and so do we, its fines.

To vindicate the sanctity of human life by taking it is an outrage upon reason. The spectacle of a human being dangling at the end of a gallows-rope is a degradation of humanity.

Flattery has a short battery life, but reminding people they are amazing and precious and wanted and works of art can truly change their lives.

All we need to do is start believing in ourselves and in America again.

There isn't a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as there are fingerprints.

For me, skinny is just a style of jeans -- not a goal.

Gratitude and treachery are merely the two extremities of the same procession. You have seen all of it that is worth staying for when the band and the gaudy officials have gone by.

Not all of us are called to die a martyr’s death, but all of us are called to have the same spirit of self-sacrifice and love to the very end as these martyrs had.

Don't spend your money till you have it.

There are actors who are really fantastically talented at being natural on screen and appearing to be themselves, but I like the challenge of becoming somebody else.