The ironic humor comes from the distance between what we understand about ourselves and what is truly going on in ourselves.

Story is a yearning meeting an obstacle.

All plot comes from the character's trying to get something, to achieve something, wanting, desiring, longing.

We are the yearning creatures of this planet.

Jayne Anne Phillips . . . is at the height of her powers in Lark and Termite. . . . This is a major novel from one of America's finest writers.

The monitor presently shows the Windows Blue Screen of Death, though this does not alarm him, as the BSoD is the universal screen saver in Hell.

I've never had much use for religion, except when it comes to swearing or begging for mercy.

Hope is a motivation for pressing ahead, a sustained effort and a joy that the promised will be fulfilled at the right time.

Discipline is a symbol of caring to a child. He needs guidance. If there is love there is no such thing as being too tough with a child.

If we freed up all the money in the certification process, think about how much more money we'd have to put into teacher salaries.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

It is not I who have lost the Athenians, but the Athenians who have lost me.

The gas-law of learning: . . . any amount of information no matter how small will fill any intellectual void no matter how large.

Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks.

What a glorious morning this is!

You must not begin to fret about the successes of cheap people. After all, what have they to do with you?