If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!

Even strength must bow to wisdom sometimes.

It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality.

Humans see what they want to see.

Earthshaker, Stormbreaker, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God

Go on with what your heart tells you, or you will lose all.

The real world is where the monsters are.

Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing.

i held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus- Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants.

The sea does not like to be restrained.

There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

How we feel is not who we are. We might feel like failures, but as long as we are still trying, we are not failures. We are works in progress.

I found an inner strength to fight for myself. It was clear that nobody else would.

Jarring interests of themselves create the according music of a well-mixed state.

I assume these structures are made for siting?

The hardness of a diamond is part of its usefulness, but its true value is in the light that shines through it.

I love bringing people together. I think that the environment is so important in terms of what kind of relationships you might be able to create, how people get to know each other.

Theatre and opera were always the twin kingdoms that I felt I had to conquer, because they were my parents' favorites.

My best friend is disabled. There's nothing he hates more than being left out of the jokes, to be treated with kid gloves. That's the insult.

The appointment [in Harvard] gave me economic safety, writerly support, and intellectual self-respectplus eight months to myself every year.