I wasn't going to let things happen to me any more. I was going to make them happen.

Sometimes words come out of me and I don't know where they come from or why. They're like falling stars tumbling through the universe; bright, burning things that can't be stopped.

You might think what I tell you next is all a dream, or that I've imagined it. I can't help it if that's what you think, but I swear it's true. Sometimes the truest things are the hardest to believe.

Sometimes I can see colour without opening my eyes. I saw that Billy's heart was no colour and every colour. Like water or diamonds or crystals, it's pure and reflects the light.

Books are many things: lullabies for the weary, ointment for the wounded, armour for the fearful and nests for those in need of a home.

I didn't know what to say when someone's given you a small free kiss in the dark.

Running away was easy; not knowing what to do next was the hard part.

When the doors closed behind me I felt like a bird had got inside my chest and was beating its wings trying to get loose, and it wasn't leaving much room for me to breathe.

Then I kissed Max because I loved him, and everyone I had ever loved before had gone away and I had never kissed them goodbye

I don't make promises in case I can't keep them. Sometimes you can't help it; things stop you.

I saw pearls in her mouth and the velvet cushion of her tongue and I heard the magic words come out of her.

The higher you rise above your fears the higher you will rise above your peers.

The power of a smile is such that even drawing a happy face on a piece of paper makes your lips turn up.

I seek no longer to be a 'famous' person, and instead I wish to live a 'normal' life.

The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years.

As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come.

The process is only a means to an end-creating the painting I want. It doesn't mean anything itself. It's only a way of creating a result.

It's a foolish culture that entrusts its food supply to simpletons.

When I was in charge of the Christian Coalition I was available to mobilize grass roots support for somebody.

My new house is going to have wall-to-wall awards!

Find your speed, maintain your velocity, keep it up, keep it consistent, and stay in the pocket.