My grandfather says that's what books are for," Ashoke said, using the opportunity to open the volume in his hands. "To travel without moving an inch.

That's what books are for... to travel without moving an inch.

Fiction is the only way I know a human being can inhabit the mind of another human being.

Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world as you can.You will not regret it.

I am drawn to any story that makes me want to read from one sentence to the next. I have no other criterion.

A bicultural upbringing is a rich but imperfect thing

Pet names are a persistant remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not always so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people.

Somehow, bad news, however ridden with static, however filled with echoes, always manages to be conveyed.

The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace.

That the last two letters in her name were the first two in his, a silly thing he never mentioned to her but caused him to believe that they were bound together.

It didn't matter that I wore clothes from Sears; I was still different. I looked different. My name was different. I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different.

We must pass through the darkness, to reach the light.

Why did I do such-and-such a thing?' is all very well. But what about 'How otherwise could I have done it?'.

Be selfless to find yourself.

If your students aren't learning, then maybe you're not teaching.

This is an epiphany moment, I can either sink or swim

I don't think there is such a thing as being too raunchy when it comes to the art form of burlesque.

I don't want to be like you. I look for the pure of heart, and the ones that have made a start.

Real estate is my life. It is my day job, if you will. But it consumes my nights and weekends, too.

The power of duly appreciating little things belongs to a great mind.

Long before the empire had reached its greatest extent, the Romans were bored by it.