On the streets of the city They have taken my Who-I-Am As well as my What-I-Was And now I am desperate for them both Again

Books transmit values. They explore our common humanity. What is the message when some children are not represented in those books?

When I began to read, I began to exist

Cutting people out of your life is easy, keeping them in is hard.

We need to tell young people that America was built by men and women of all colors and that the future of this country is dependent on the participation of all of our citizens.

Reading is not optional.

I'll never live to write all the stories I have in my head.

We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.

Think about all the tomorrows of your life.

We all know we should eat right and we should exercise, but reading is treated as if it's this wonderful adjunct.

It's a hard life sometimes and the biggest temptation is to let how hard it is be an excuse to weaken

As you become a better writer, the writing becomes more difficult. You toil harder to tell a story in a lesser number of words.

Cancer is like a cockroach. It just comes back stronger. I'm tearing apart the immune system of the cockroach and seeing how it ticks. I've opened up my own pathology center.

If you're afraid of being grabbed by God, don't look at a wall. Definitely don't sit still.

That is, to me at least, one of the most helpful and useful things books do for us: They are generous enough to allow us to choose what matters to us.

You know, there's that temptation in interviews to make yourself sound - well, to give yourself a bit of mystery.

I had to cut a lot of things I wanted to keep [in The Art of Elegance]. I'm going to have to do a part two for sure.

Perhaps the hardest lesson of all is that there is no such thing as 'getting it right'-least of all with the promulgation of quality.

The marks on our lives are like music notes on the page--they sing a song.

Any time there's a coaching change, that's something that's pretty significant, and especially for the New York Giants, who have had the same coach for a long period of time. But we embrace it.

When one looks into the window of a store which sells devotional art objects, one can't help wishing the iconoclasts had won.