Revision is the heart of writing. Every page I do is done over seven or eight times.

Anyone who has problems, or worries, anyone who laughs and cries, anyone who feels can write. It's only talking on paper... talking about the things that matter to us.

I loved teaching. It was my world. I only left because I was overwhelmed with three careers - teaching, writing, and my family.

To me, family is everything. I want children to realize how important their families are and what a support system a family is.

Everything in my life affects my writing. There are no separate parts of my life.

Many times in my life I've been upset about something and said to myself, "Will this matter in two years?" Not even in two months.

I myself was terrified during the Second World War. The war started when I was six, and I was so sure that we were going to be bombed and killed. My imagination is my biggest plus and my worst minus.

I have no special talent, you know. I never took a writing course before I began to write.

Outside of family, writing is essential. To me, it's like breathing.

I cannot outline. I do not know what the next thing is going to happen in the book until it comes out of my fingers.

All of my books are based in some way on my personal experiences, or the experiences of members of my family, or the stories kids would tell me in school.

I dreamt, I woke, I grafted, I failed, I persisted, I conquered.

Stay with and pursue your dreams, and history will tell your stories in golden, glossy and embossed shining foils

There are so many kinds of love, and they're all very intense for me.

If you want peace, understand war.

Two things are always the same the dance and war.

It is the plain women who know about love; the beautiful women are too busy being fascinating.

If you consider, for example, that democracy is much like a religion then 9/11 is akin to finding the body of God.

Character is one of most precious parts of you. You can't get involved in things that will damage your character.

When any one tells you that he belongs to no party, you may at any rate be sure that he does not belong to yours.

My power will be in humility.