All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.

Like most-maybe all- writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books.

Reading was like eating alone, with that same element of bingeing.

When we humans speak, we are not merely communicating information but attempting to make an impression and achieve a goal.

What I love is how pissed off Jane Eyre is. She's in a rage for the whole novel and the payoff is she gets to marry this blind guy who's toasted his wife in the attic." -Angela Argo "Blue Angel

A lot of girls who turn into something remarkable start off as irrepressible, confident and a handful.

Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.

We never believe we're beautiful, no matter how many times we hear it. We never believe it until someone says it in the right way.

I’ve always found that the better the book I’m reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter.

I know a lot of Eastern Europeans, and because of what they have been through and what they have seen, they have an attitude where they are not easily fooled.

I can no more reread my own books than I can watch old home movies or look at snapshots of myself as a child. I wind up sitting on the floor, paralyzed by grief and nostalgia.

the illusion that power lies within the hands of the common man is more important than legitimate efficiency within the government.

Nobody's innocent... but that doesn't reset the bar on guilt.

Preaching never edifies a prayerless soul.

I am Captain Dakkan. I am in charge of this facility.""Captain Dakkan, " Ryan repeated. "It's good to meet you. I've heard... well... nothing about you...

I should think that an ordinary copy of the King James version would have been good enough for those Congressmen.

One of the most obvious results of having a baby around the house is to turn two good people into complete idiots who probably wouldn't have been much worse than mere imbeciles without it.

Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody thinks about changing himself.

God often gives nuts to toothless people.

I like to look at a tree and see that it's love. Don't you?

Nothing else ever mattered to me, and you weren’t even real. All I ever wanted was you.