Nostalgia is, 'Hey, remember the other mall that used to be there?'

I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

Developing our sympathetic compassion is not only possible but the only reason for us to be here on earth.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

It's a big world, and I really like it.

Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.

The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?

Kindness, it turns out, is hard - it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include . . . well, EVERYTHING.

Anybody can fail.

If you are working with no vision to be own your own boss, you are no different from people who are unemployed

Kindness is in our power even when fondness is not.

From day one, I have been told I am no different from the male astronauts. As a pilot, I flew in the sky. Now that I am an astronaut, I will fly in space.

Sometimes I feel as if sections of my ballets were done for me - that I didnt do them myself.

…there’s nothing in the world more fun than doing something you’re good at.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today -- for tomorrow's gonna be bad enough as it is.

Friendships are discovered rather than made.

All the wars of the world, all the Caesars, have not the staying power of a lily in a cottage garden.

Success is when your name is in everything but the telephone directory.