Here was this man Tom Guthrie in Holt standing at the back window in the kitchen of his house smoking cigarettes and looking out over the back lot where the sun was just coming up.

A girl is different. They want things. They need things on a regular schedule. Why, a girl's got purposes you and me can't even imagine. They got ideas in their heads you and me can't even suppose.

He wanted to think of words that would make some difference but there were none in any language he knew that were sufficient to the moment or that would change a single thing.

You have to believe in yourself despite the evidence.

It seems to me nothing man has done or built on this land is an improvement over what was here before.

I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didnt publish my first book until I was 41.

Fame isn't healthy for a writer.

Honey, Maggie Jones said. Victoria. Listen to me. You're here now. This is where you are.

My desire is to be anonymous, isolated, quiet, peaceful, and concentrated.

This country's crazy in terms of fame and what people think it means. They expect a writer to be something between a Hollywood starlet and the village idiot.

This boy needs a dog.What makes you say that?He needs someone or something to play with besides his phone and an old man and an old woman doddering around.

The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.

Digital imaging allows both groups to rise above the limitations of mess and clutter and mechanics, and apply our talents to creating images limited only by our imaginations.

One day I'll be appreciated for what I do instead being held back for what I don't do.

Freedom of conscience is a natural right, both antecedent and superior to all human laws and institutions whatever; a right which laws never gave and a right which laws can never take away.

Oprah is more than an institution. Oprah is a very special star in the firmament. I can't imagine a greater success than she's enjoyed.

American missionaries have free rein in Uganda. They can go anywhere they please - schools, hospitals, parliament.

I like books that are exciting and that make you think about things, as well. I like things that have a twist - like 'Atonement,' which I haven't read obviously, as I'm a bit young.

Once you succeed in tennis, financially you become quite well off.

I vividly remember the summer of 1964 with its voter registration drives, boiling racial tensions, and the erupting awareness of the cruelty of racism. I was never the same after that summer.

We make ourselves fools to disport ourselves And spend our flatteries to drink those men Upon whose age we void it up again With poisonous spite and envy.