Kids often ask me if characters are real or made up - and I always tell them, 'I hope they're real but I made them up.'

The name we give to something shapes our attitude toward it.

To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.

It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading.

Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections.

I love revision. Where else can spilled milk be turned into ice cream?

As much pleasure as young people get from Twittering and texting, there is no way these activities will nourish their minds and spirits the way literature can.

Reading can be a road to freedom or a key to a secret garden, which, if tended, will transform all of life.

As I look back on what I have written, I can see that the very persons who have taken away my time are those who have given me something to say.

Some folks are natural born kickers. They can always find a way to turn disaster into butter.

I love to read. But I loved to read a lot longer than I started to love writing.

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

I spent a college semester in a small town in Italy - and that is where I truly tasted food for the first time.

'Mormonism' has made me all I am; and the grace, the power, and the wisdom of God will make me all that I ever will be, either in time or in eternity.

But just because a person goes to Harvard doesn't mean he's balanced when he graduates, and just because a dog knows how to obey doesn't mean he's balanced, either.

The circle, or ring, dance was seen as an earthly counterpart of the heavenly dance of the angels, which was itself a celebration of the resurrection.

I have a very well organized closet.

Truly I have looked in the very heart of darkness and refused to yield to its paralyzing influence, but in spirit I am one of those who walk the morning.

Everybody can be smart.

Religion-freedom-vengeance-what you will, A word's enough to raise mankind to kill.

Men come, men go, all things remain in God.