An idea might spark an essay, but never a story.

Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater.

We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive.

Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open.

They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey.

Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed.

Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive.

In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak.

if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive.

I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me.

I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself.

One rash person in the right place and earth could be a sterile cinder in seconds, but that's been more-or-less true for a century.

As I grow through love, so grows my joy, ever more present, ever more constant.

Surely Tillie knew glitter on wrinkled cleavage was a sin.

I'm from the South, so I tend to tell stories. That's how we express ourselves.

Equality is the soul of liberty; there is, in fact, no liberty without it.

There are new eras in one's life that are equivalent to youth-are something better than youth.

I've been told I'm an old soul, but I'm only 25. I have the old with the new in me, and my house reflects that.

There is no success without a successor.

I like to think of myself as a very passionate person, and as very determined.

Optimism requires confidence, and confidence is built on trust. And trust, as we know, flows in both directions.