It's not important that we agree with each other, only that we understand each other.

Irony is easier than hopeless silence but braver than flight.

I find that I keep offering God my service when what He wants is my fellowship

You will hear thunder and remember me, and think: she wanted storms.

It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake into you.

Salmon. Salmon, salmon, salmon, salmon. I eat so much salmon at these weddings, twice a year I get this urge to swim upstream.

It all has to come from inside, though, I guess.

Let me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.

I am a Muslim and . . . my religion makes me be against all forms of racism. It keeps me from judging any man by the color of his skin. It teaches me to judge him by his deeds .

I don't feel 70. I am still looking out from 14-year-old eyes.

Work to make a living; serve to make a life.