In fiction, plenty do the job of conveying information, rousing suspense, painting characters, enabling them to speak. But only certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil.

That's what books are for... to travel without moving an inch.

Fiction is the only way I know a human being can inhabit the mind of another human being.

Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world as you can.You will not regret it.

I am drawn to any story that makes me want to read from one sentence to the next. I have no other criterion.

A bicultural upbringing is a rich but imperfect thing

Pet names are a persistant remnant of childhood, a reminder that life is not always so serious, so formal, so complicated. They are a reminder, too, that one is not all things to all people.

Somehow, bad news, however ridden with static, however filled with echoes, always manages to be conveyed.

The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace.

That the last two letters in her name were the first two in his, a silly thing he never mentioned to her but caused him to believe that they were bound together.

It didn't matter that I wore clothes from Sears; I was still different. I looked different. My name was different. I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different.

Sovereignty, loyalty, and solitude.

Because of my Calvinistic upbringing, I was trained to think that what you do has to have a purpose.

I appoint the laziest person to do the hardest job as they'll find the easiest way to do it

My goodness, that wee ball's gone so high there'll be snow on it when it comes down.

Where I come from, taxpayers get justifiably upset that illegals can keep getting aid when we are cutting programs that help full-fledged U.S. citizens.

We must not let go manifest truths because we cannot answer all questions about them.

You can't live wrong and pray right.

Harry [Styles] is like a younger brother. We do exercises together then he asks me to prepare a sandwich for the effort.

People say that love is easy, but love spares nothing and no-one.

We have embraced the 21st century by entering such cutting-edge industries as brick, carpet, insulation and paint. Try to control your excitement.