Writing stories has given me the power to change things I could not change as a child. I can make boys into doctors. I can make fathers stop drinking. I can make mothers stay.

It is when we are most lost that we sometimes find our truest friends.

I learned to write from authors. I didn't know any, but I read their books.

Every person is able to add beauty, whether by growing flowers, or singing, or cooking luscious meals, or raising sweet pets. Every part of life can be art.

I want to do something important in my life, and I think that adding beauty to the world with books... really is important.

It is odd how we sometimes deny ourselves the very pleasure we have longed for and which is finally within our reach.

I love being a writer because I want to leave something here on earth to make it better, prettier, stronger.

But those with an evil heart seem to have a talent for destroying anything beautiful which is about to bloom.

In November, the trees are standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.

When the wicked want to bring down the innocent, they aim for a loving heart.

I am so grateful to be a writer. I hope every child grows up and finds something to do that will seem important and that will seem precious. Happy living and, especially, happy playing.

Where once I prayed for forgiveness from a father God who held up huge palms and said “Thou shalt not, ” now I find peace with a sister god who takes my open hands in hers and says, “You will.

The living water that never runs dry, The water of life, Lord, the saviour of the world.

Nothing, indeed, but the possession of some power can with any certainty discover what at the bottom is the true character of any man.

I had to work from a young age.

Age seldom arrives smoothly or quickly. It's more often a succession of jerks.

Suffering breeds character. Character breeds faith. And in the end, faith will not disappoint. Faith, hope, and dreams will prevail... Our time has come. Our time has come. Our time has come.

Family is everything. It is even more important than baseball.

It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.

You have to love the doing of what you're doing and not wait for the phone to ring.

The world cares little for principles. They care for persons.