That soldiers do terrible things during wartime should not surprise us.

Perhaps everyone has a story that could break your heart.

On a good day I write, all day.

By the time I'm nine I know the world is a dangerous place. I've heard whispers about razorblades in apples, about Charlie Manson and his family. But no one is offering any clear information.

There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under.

Certain stories we carry with us, events in our life, they define who we are. It's not a matter of getting over anything; we have to make the best of it.

Writers, especially poets, are particularly prone to madness.

I can weep pretty easily. I can get tears in my eyes from a beautiful work of art.

If you're going to write about someone's life, you don't just use them for wallpaper. You have to honor and respect that life.

Alcohol is the river we sit on the banks of, contemplating. Sometimes we watch ourselves float past, sometimes we watch ourselves sink.

Everything we do, I'd imagine, influences everything we will do.

He is not the same person as when wemet, but . . . neither am I. Time has refined us, but instead of pushing us apart, we’re closer than ever.

I hope that I will be the last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes.

I like my peace and quiet whenever I can grab it.

With our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will be the transformation of health care, education and energy.

Golf isn't a game, it's a choice that one makes with one's life.

The death tax punishes the American dream - making it virtually impossible for the average American family to build wealth across generations.

The poor dog, in life the firmest friend. The first to welcome, foremost to defend.

A street in Constantinople is a picture which one ought to see once-not oftener.

Here is the reality - as I've been saying for longer than I can remember, Scott Walker is a mediocre county executive who has risen far beyond his talents.

If you are not at peace with yourself then you cannot spread peace.