In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.

They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.

The difference between an optimist and a pessimist? An optimist laughs to forget, but a pessimist forgets to laugh.

I come from very common stock, and I've always been uncomfortable with pretension and all the forms it can take, including disingenuous broadcasting.

You can make a new friend but you can't make an old one.

That's what the American odyssey is really about: Leaving home. Leaving home and coming home, and trying to understand the difference.

In the America I see from here, anything is possible - especially the impossible.

Mine is not a story to tell struggling writers.

Americans are generally very self-sufficient and I think generally averse to pretension, just as I am.

Professor Al Drake encouraged me to just write the way I talk. I decided if that's what I needed to do, I didn't need to be in school to do it.

Like most Alaska immigrants, my roots continue to petition for equal time.

She's realized the real problem with stories -- if you keep them going long enough, they always end in death.

Poppe, once a leading figure at a scientific research institute, found a job as a swimming pool attendant

And The Monster Said "Yes But No Being That Can Cause Such Destruction Without Remorse Can Consider Itself A Person

Our response has been, "Well, let's then make an effort to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to sit around the table." That hasn't happened. So we only have ourselves to blame for this crisis.

The best revenge is to improve yourself.

He had to fight. That's all he had. Not memories, not experiences, not skills. He had a will. And his will was to fight until he couldn't fight anymore.

In all we do we must cultivate faith. Increased faith is the touchstone to improved church performance.

I'm only as successful as the guy that lives down the street from me.

I think it's really unfortunate that academics have been sidelined in most important policy debates.

Those in pursuit of Why are inspired to do what is right. Those in pursuit of What are driven to do what is easy.