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

Without music, life is a journey through a desert.

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.

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.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God.

Each day begins a new journey of life, for if we awake, there is a reason.

Life is simply a collective thought. Didn't you know we made it all up? Don't you know it can be different?

You can switch off all the lights, but that won't stop the sun from rising.

Nearly everything that happened had happened before. The grand lesson of history.

There are so many things that have to go right for a movie to be good that it's a miracle whenever one is.

The streams, rejoiced that winter's work is done, Talk of to-morrow's cowslips as they run.

Tis not for mortals always to be blest.

Duty is heavy as a mountain, death is light as a feather.