One thing living in Japan did for me was to make me feel that what is left out of a work of art is as important as, if not more important than, what is put in.

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.

There is one respect in which beasts show real wisdom... their quiet, placid enjoyment of the present moment.

'Where's Bill going?' He's going to comedy death. Boom! He pops out of it with another joke. It's my particular style.

I'm a military baby, and it makes me proud to know that I'm the child of two parents that served our country. I feel very connected to our country, and I'm honored to be an American.

Life is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down.

Nothing is absolutely unjust. There is no real equity, no total grandeur, no pure vice, no absolute crime.

I thought success in show business was everything. It isn't. I don't know what is.

I learn a lot; what I learn cannot be expressed in words.

You are a Universe of Universes And your Soul a source of Songs.

This nation is able to legislate for its own people on every question, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation on earth.

Many can brook the weather that love not the wind.