It's impossible to explain to a Yankee what 'tacky' is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one.

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the low-country, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders.

I’ve never had anyone’s approval, so I’ve learned to live without it.

The most powerful words in English are, 'Tell me a story.'

Here is all I ask of a book- give me everything. Everything, and don't leave out a single word.

I stood face to face with the moon and the ocean and the future that spread out with all its bewildering immensity before me.

Good writing ... involves the agony of turning profoundly difficult thoughts into lucid form, then forcing them into the tight-fitting uniform of language, making them visible and clear.

There is no teacher more discriminating or transforming than loss.

The great teachers fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.

My soul found ease and rest in the companionship of books.

Karate is the best thing you can do for your child.

Are you afraid? Remember the "fear nots" of the Bible.

Life has no plot. It is by far more interesting than anything you can say about it.

We will work as a group, we need to be a real team, that is the only way to go far

Shoot what you can't help but shoot

A neoconservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality. A neoliberal is a liberal who's been mugged by reality but has refused to press charges.

Human beings, like plants, grow in the soil of acceptance, not in the atmosphere of rejection.

Thievery is what unregulated capitalism is all about.

When I have brown hair I feel the most like myself, but I don't feel glamorous. It's a disgusting thing to admit.