You're the proverbial diamond in the rough", she'd said to him once, touching his nose lightly with the tip of her electrifying finger.

The name we give to something shapes our attitude toward it.

To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.

It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading.

Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections.

I love revision. Where else can spilled milk be turned into ice cream?

As much pleasure as young people get from Twittering and texting, there is no way these activities will nourish their minds and spirits the way literature can.

Reading can be a road to freedom or a key to a secret garden, which, if tended, will transform all of life.

As I look back on what I have written, I can see that the very persons who have taken away my time are those who have given me something to say.

Some folks are natural born kickers. They can always find a way to turn disaster into butter.

I love to read. But I loved to read a lot longer than I started to love writing.

I was thinking lots of things, but most of them needed to stay thoughts, not words.

An obstacle is nothing but a temporary obstruction waiting to be tackled.

For my 16th birthday, my family took me to L'Auberge de L'Ill, which was family-run but had three Michelin stars. It was a revelation. After that meal, I realised this is what I want to do.

If you want spiritual life you have to pay the price. The price is the four regulative principles.

Sometimes, as I feel a door or an exit point in my work is closing, I'll try to create an opening so as not to stifle the creative process, which I see as a process that's never-ending.

Mental events such as perceivings, rememberings, decisions, and actions resist capture in the net of physical theory.

We have to learn to make our own way through a complex world without the benefit of an accepted trustworthy route map.

I'm really excited for people to be able to see what else I can do, besides high heels and magic powers.

There are more than enough to fight and oppose; why waste good time fighting the people you like?

A triune God would call us to converse with him . . . because he wants to share the joy he has. Prayer is our way of entering into the happiness of God himself.