Ultimately, I'm in control of what's going on in the books, so I can back off, if it's scaring me too much.

You can take my heart, but I can't let you take my dog.

Don't try to follow in my footsteps. Make your own footsteps! No one else can tell the stories that are inside of you except for you.

Keeping libraries open, giving access to all children to all books is vital to our nation's sovereignty.

I never felt isolated; I just liked being alone. I think that some people are good at being alone, and some people arent, and as a child, I really liked it.

Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.

[On men:] ... you never know what they're like until you get them home and take them out of their packages.

As a Southerner, I love obstacles for my characters.

Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.

You didn't realize what was passing you by until you slowed down a little bit to get a better look.

Of course I love cooking Eastern European food because I'm a Jew, but I also love making roast chicken. I love making Hungarian goulash. There are a lot of egg noodles in my cooking.

Innovations until now conceived by no one at all

True art is but the anti-type of nature; the embodiment of discovered beauty in utility.

We recycle everything in my house. I'm not into any particular organizations, but I'm doing my part and that makes me feel okay.

When people talk about the death of the novel, they are speaking of the need for the birth of something different.

The power of large corporations is still a scourge on the earth, but at least the arguments supporting them are undermined now.

All men who would surpass the other animals should do their best not to pass through life silently like the beasts whom nature made prone, obedient to their bellies.

Whenever man begins to doubt himself, he does something so stupid that he is reassured.

In the beginning was the thing. And one thing led to another.

Just as our taste in lovers is far more revealing than our choice of friends, the object of an artist's obsession can open up doors to their soul that might otherwise remain shut tight.