Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different reasons.

Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.

I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.

Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things - the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.

You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.

Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging.

One of the very best reasons for having children is to be reminded of the incomparable joys of a snow day.

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.

An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exceptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain.

There's a marvelous sense of mastery that comes with writing a sentence that sounds exactly as you want it to.

Even after I'd published three books and had been writing full-time for twenty years, my father continued to urge me to go to law school.

Seek the miracles in a sacred moment.

I don't think people were that interested in what I was doing for the most of the 1990s.

Rural towns aren't always idyllic. It's easy to feel trapped and be aware of social hypocrisy.

Only through kindness and love can peace of mind be achieved.

Dreams are hopes, and echoes of hope.

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter Garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly-and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

Poverty wants some, luxury many, and avarice all things.

If a man breaks a pledge, the public ought to know it.

I am always afraid of a fool. One cannot be sure that he is not a knave as well.

There is a luxury in self-dispraise; And inward self-disparagement affords To meditative spleen a grateful feast.