knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

A finished person is a boring person.

There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger.

Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life ... Your entire life ... Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.

When I look in the mirror, I know I’m looking at someone who isn’t sure she deserves to be loved at all.

Be comfortable with being uncomfortable with negative habits.

And what would we be, we sinful creatures, without fear, perhaps the most foresighted, the most loving of the divine gifts?

A woman that's too soft and sweet is like tapioca pudding-fine for them as likes it.

I think Lincoln had a unique parenting style. He let his kids run free and wild.

Anyone who rides a bike is a friend of mine.

I care only to know, if possible, the lasting meaning that lies in all religious doctrine from the beginning till now.

I want to play a Disney villainess so badly.

Under capitalism, man oppresses man. But under socialism, it's the other way around.

The lives of people are like young trees in a forest. They are being choked by climbing vines. The vines are old thoughts and beliefs planted by dead men.