My family was all police and hard hats at the refineries; they didn't know what to think about me. So I became a closet writer.

A dog could see your heart in your eyes, Budress told him, and dogs were drawn to our hearts.

She asked me why I always had something flip to say. I said that I didn't know, but having been blessed with the gift, I felt obliged to use it.

Everyone knows dogs. Most people love dogs. I think most American families probably have a dog, but I don't think people really realize or understand just how wonderful and special dogs are.

Dogs give us something just as we give something to them.

Everything we are is anchored in our childhoods. The drama comes in how we deal with it. Are we slaves to our past, or can we rise above it? This is the stuff of great stories.

The sense of smell in all dogs is their primary doorway to the world around them.

Lucy took a single plain donut from the bag and held it for me to take a bite. Tender and light and still warm from the frying. Not too sugary.

Sometimes I am so dry that people don't know I'm kidding and think I'm being serious. I enjoy this because their reactions are often funny.

People want you to be ordinary.

My books come to me in images, and sometimes the image is at the beginning of the book, and sometimes it's simply a flash somewhere in the middle.

Talented people hit targets no one else can hit. Ambitious people aim to hit targets no one else can see.

If you're poor and you do something stupid, you're nuts. If you're rich and do something stupid, you're eccentric.

History tells us that the threat to prosperity is not debt but socialism.

One time I can stand fiddling in front of the mirror for an hour and another time I think: well hack, this is just the best it can get. Only if I have to go to work I really try to look fantastic.

If nature does not ratify law, then all the virtues may lose their sway.

You can be sure that I won't experiment with right-wing terms.

Forgive your enemy, but do not mistake him for a friend.

There hasn't been a day in my life since I started Latin in ninth grade that I haven't benefited by the lives of the ancients.

I'm difficult on every single level. I'm aware that I can be annoying.

People of ze wurl, relax!