I grew up in a small place and left it when I was quite young and entered the bigger world.

That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing - which is never an easy thing to do.

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.

One isn’t born one’s self. One is born with a mass of expectations, a mass of other people’s ideas – and you have to work through it all.

Most people are not really free. They are confined by the niche in the world that they carve out for themselves. They limit themselves to fewer possibilities by the narrowness of their vision.

It is wrong to have an ideal view of the world. That's where the mischief starts. That's where everything starts unravelling.

The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves.

Home is, I suppose just a child's idea. A house at night, and a lamp in the house. A place to feel safe.

One always writes comedy at the moment of deepest hysteria.

The world is always in movement.

All the details of the life and the quirks and the friendships can be laid out for us, but the mystery of the writing will remain. No amount of documentation, however fascinating, can take us there.

A good coach can be a caring parent, a wise teacher, an exemplary pastor, a passionate friend or a devoted mentor. Keep in touch with all of them especially at the time they are needed.

But if science may be said to be blind without philosophy, it is true also that philosophy is virtually empty without science.

Hank had left me his doomed army, and he’d left Marcie his inheritance. Unfair didn’t begin to cover it.

Disappointment results from the removal of illusion.

Showing joy by jumping up and down and clapping goes away at some point between pre-school and being old enough to go to orgies.

Small businesses are the economic drivers of our country, providing the stimulus our communities need.

The world is always a democracy in times of flux, and the man with the best voice will win.

Once you realize how good you really are, you never settle for playing less than your best.

I want to hold you, Nikki. Will you let me?

When I stop at a stop sign, I don’t think about the distance I’ve crossed. I just wish I never had to stop.