The whole process of writing a novel is having this great, beautiful idea and then spoiling it.

A chaplain's biggest gift is to be present and just listen.

Statuettes of drunken sailors, velvet pictures of island maidens, plastic seashell lamps made in Taiwan. What contempt the people who think up souvenirs have for other people.

Not having to own a car has made me realize what a waste of time the automobile is.

Women have the feeling that since they didn't make the rules, the rules have nothing to do with them.

Laughter is the jam on the toast of life. It adds flavor, keeps it from being too dry, and makes it easier to swallow.

...is this not in fact the purpose of young Americans going abroad? To make them think of things they never thought of?

In what we think of as bad dialogue, the characters talk directly to each other.

Glenda Adams has written a wicked and witty novel.

But novels are never about what they are about; that is, there is always deeper, or more general, significance. The author may not be aware of this till she is pretty far along with it.

Any essayist setting out on a frail apparatus of notings and jottings is a brave person.

The only power God recognizes in His church is the power of His Spirit whereas the only power actually recognized today by the majority of evangelicals is the power of man.

People who live up to their words shouldn't make blind promises.

I can read in any book and newspaper about the city of Detroit, but I want to hear what the people in Detroit have to say about Detroit. My best education is actually talking to people.

I like to eat chocolate and pizza - that's my vice! - just like everyone else, but if I do it I have to keep it under control.

A simile is like a pair of eyeglasses, one side sees this, one side sees that, the device brings them together.

People are always talking about originality, but what do they mean? As soon as we are born, the world begins to work upon us, and this goes on to the end.

Ice dance should not be seen as a rigid conformist form of figure skating. There is a great deal of freedom and originality to be had.

Suddenly, people had three phone numbers but never answered their phones.

I think a lot of people haven't even seen my videos but just hearing my name are like "Oh, that's that dumb Internet thing." And I'm definitely trying to shake that a little bit.

One thing that I learned is this - once a Braves fan, always a Braves fan. No matter what. And as a player, that means more than you could understand.