I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.

A finished person is a boring person.

There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.

After all those years as a woman hearing 'not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,' almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, 'I'm enough.'

Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

There is a lot of talk now about metal detectors and gun control. Both are good things. But they are no more a solution than forks and spoons are a solution to world hunger.

Look back, to slavery, to suffrage, to integration and one thing is clear. Fashions in bigotry come and go. The right thing lasts.

You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life ... Your entire life ... Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.

In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own.

I walked forward simply because there was no going back.

Look at it this way, child, life is a magic show, or should be if people didn't go to sleep on each other. Always leave folks with a bit of mystery, son.

There's boldness in being assertive; there's strength and confidence.

Anticipation is making me late, it's keeping me waiting.

I am against all machines. It's no wonder that so many Americans go on dope when they have no other cultural stimulus than a television.

I've always said that an art critic can put aside politics around art.

Pawns are really queens in disguise.

... the best way to help the poor is to promote economic growth and job creation

I look in the mirror and see a few scars, but I like myself.

We [people] are a species that's wired to tell stories. We need stories. It's how we make sense of things. It's how we learn.