When people are filled to the brim with love, they are their most beautiful.

I look at my roommates who are so proud of me that it makes me proud.

That's when you know for sure somebody loves you. They figure out what you need and they give it to you - without you asking.

A good mother is irreplaceable.

I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile.

But what Mom never told me is that along the way, you find sisters, and they find you. Girls are cool that way.

We hang out, we help one another, we tell one another our worst fears and biggest secrets, and then just like real sisters, we listen and don't judge.

Mama always said a good family has one heartbeat. No one knows you like the people you live with, and no one will take up your cause to the outside world quite like your blood relatives.

I even love the smell of books.

I don't settle in any other area of my life when it comes to excellence, so why should I lower my standards when it comes to boys?

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who want to know the facts, and those who want to make up a nice story to feel better. I wish I was the kind who made up stories.

There's three things men always talk about - women, sports, and cars.

The quiet rhythmic monotone of the wall of logs fills one with the rustic peace of a secluded nook in the woods.

I'm still a shy person. I've learned to put that aside on certain occasions. I have to. It's part of my job.

I can't write the book I want to write, but I can and will write the book I am capable of writing.

I've never been to the Soviet Union and the main reason for that is I was warned several times by people from the KGB who had defected to the West that it would be very unsafe for me to go there

Exactly as we might ask God, and do ask God, to change our fate. The difference is that in the story the writer actually replies and in the end even changes his mind.

Walking on rocks, hurts. Walking on glass, cuts. Walking on hot coals, burns. Walking on someones heart, kills.

I try to find a balance between positivity and negativity, celebration and critique in my work; I think there is room for both.

To find that place between what I want and what I think is wise.

Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.