While I hear from readers all the time that they love learning new things, I never want to do an "info-dump." Boring! I try to include enticing details and skip all the rest.

I love Christmas! I'm not religious, but I love the trappings of the season. I love the decorations, and the music, and Santa, and the festive food, and the cinnamon- and vanilla-infused aromas.

Actually, the first thing I do is choose the antique that will be featured in each book. I try to find unusual objects with great stories. I am fascinated by the stories.

I encourage people to read by encouraging them to read whatever they want.

The trick is to get people to read anything, to engender the love of reading. Once you can read, you can teach yourself anything. Librarians are key, I think. They hold the power to empower.

While the cast of characters stays the same, I always try to add in new information so readers get to know the people they care about better with each story.

He snatched the book from me and replaced it hastily on its shelf, muttering that if one brick was removed the whole library was liable to collapse.

As I step off at the surface at Taurus-Littrow, I'd like to dedicate the first step of Apollo 17 to all those who made it possible.

Never doubt that one person can make a difference.

There's an enormous amount of corruption, and as one American adviser put it to me, "The police in Afghanistan are thugs. We equip them, we train them, and now they are equipped and trained thugs."

A man once said, 'All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.' Mark Twain, you know. He had a fine mustache. Men of wisdom so often do.

Let's say you have a pile that is not sorted. Bring it in front of you, put a sticky note on it that says 'pay bill' and the date when it is due. Then you can sort them by due date.

Negative words are powerful boomerangs so be careful what you say about people and yourself.

He could see Bonzo's anger growing hot. Hot anger was bad. Ender's anger was cold, and he could use it. Bonzo's was hot, and so it used him.

I am no dummy, mate, that's for sure.

I... [am] convinced [man] has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.