The purpose of schools should not be to prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged students now

I realized that every lesson, conference, response, and assignment I taught must lead students away from me and toward their autonomy as literate people.

I try to teach my students that books are a mirror, reflecting their own lives, and a window, giving them a peek into someone else's.

Readers enjoy talking about books almost as much as they like reading.

Books are love letters (or apologies) passed between us, adding a layer of conversation beyond our spoken words.

Although I enjoy digging through the library to help students find books, my aim is to help them develop self-confidence in choosing books for themselves.

Students need to make their own choices about reading material and writing topics.

Failure is not an option, so why talk about it?

A classroom atmosphere that promotes reading does not come from the furniture and its placement as much as it comes from the teacher's expectation that students will read.

If we value all readers, we must value all reading.

When we meet and I discover that we have read and loved the same books, we are instant friends.

...people with nothing to declare carry the most.

What is the point of learning things if you are not even doing things?

Be good to your sacred self.

Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.

An important aspect of the Eurasian worldview is an absolute denial of Western civilization. In the opinion of the Eurasians, the West with its ideology of liberalism is an absolute evil.

The angels have never made it a secret that they are with us, they want us to know that they are here, and they do their best to give us signs all the time...

The thing you love right away, don't do it, because that's the very thing that's going to be your addiction for the rest of your life.

I remember when Victoria Wood started to come through, and I thought she was great, though she and I are very different in our approach.

When you pick a career like acting, it's challenging, but it's a lesson every time you put yourself out there. I wouldn't change it for the world - I love what I learn every single day.

I first had the thought about making a musical of 'Edwin Drood' as far back as 1971.