Jane Austen may not be the best writer, but she certainly writes about the best people. And by that I mean people just like me.

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.

A historian is a risk-terrified prophet.

When you grow up and something touches you emotionally, it lives on forever.

Everything that happens to us is a reflection of who we are.

I was relentless, even in the face of total lack of encouragement, because much more often than you'd think, sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure.

The career 500th home run for Michael Jack Schmidt!

I'm happy, certainly, given the times we're living in, to be doing OK, and to not be worrying about money, and to be producing something I enjoy.

A brand is nothing but an expression of the consumer’s loyalty and trust.

A man is a hero, not because he is braver than anyone else, but because he is brave for 10 minutes longer.

THERE'S NO OTHER WAY to find out whether or not you'll be successful other than just doing it

My parents are both average size. For them to have a child who was very, very different and very, very small must have been incredibly hard.