The Bush administration is a paragon of wisdom.

I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character in half, on his birthday. And then it starts raining. And he's made of sugar.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.

Developing our sympathetic compassion is not only possible but the only reason for us to be here on earth.

According to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving. Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now.

It's a big world, and I really like it.

Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.

The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't you kind of feel what I'm feeling?

Kindness, it turns out, is hard - it starts out all rainbows and puppy dogs, and expands to include . . . well, EVERYTHING.

Let the essence of Christmas blossom within - as the countdown to Christmas begins.

As long as I can make an audience feel something, I don't care whether it's a good thing or bad thing, just to feel something is important to me.

I want the joy of knowing that I am doing something with my life, the joy of battle.

I can flip my tongue over. Only one in 10,000 people can. I learned that at Ripley's Believe It or Not!

Such were garrulous and noisy eras, which no longer yield any sound, but the Grecian or silent and melodious era is ever soundingand resounding in the ears of men.

I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country.

God's overriding goal is to glorify Himself.

Actually, if I don't eat healthy food I don't feel good. For me, I crave healthy food.

The fear of war is worse than war itself.

It is not our responsibility to make it acceptable; it is our duty to make it available.