Where I come from, when a Catholic marries a Lutheran it is considered the first step on the road to Minneapolis.

Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car.

It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn't hear the barbarians coming.

Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.

A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.

Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.

The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out of his nose.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Sometimes there is nothing you can do, and in those times, you must do something anyway.

Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head. ~Garrison Keillor

Live by your own sacred standard.

Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

Digital technology is both arousing and distancing. We don't look at the users on the other side as people. They aren't - they're just usernames, Facebook photos and Twitter handles.

Education is not solely about earning a great living. It means living a great life.

In their presence, there's no need for continuous conversation, but you find you're quite content in just having them nearby.

Even now I try to make each page compelling for the readers to get absorbed in the book.

Until I was six years old we lived in the projects, then my two brothers and three sisters and I moved to a three-bed that my mother's father built.

Shocking writing is like murder: the questions the jury must decide are the questions of motive and intent.

I exist in the world and live in my art.

One of the things that I think is such a constant in country music is that the song is so much a story. I believe it is supposed to be based around a story.