The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever -- they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work.

Humor is the oxygen of children's literature. There's a lot of competition for children's time, but even kids who hate to read want to read a funny book.

Give weather reports. It helps the reality of a scene if foghorns are blowing or kites are in the sky on a windy afternoon or the day's so hot wallpaper is peeling off the walls.

I don't see any reason to let law interfere with justice around here. We never did before.

It's always almost Autumn, down here at Rock Bottom.

I can never decide whether my dreams are the result of my thoughts, or my thoughts the result of my dreams.

Photogenic is a stupid, nonsensical word, but it is also a great mystery.

By comparing the human and chimp genomes, we can see the process of evolution clearly in the changes (in DNA) since we diverged from our common ancestor.

I am a firm believer, that without speculation there is no good and original observation.

Maybe if I'd been braver in that moment, I would have cried.

I've discovered writers by reading books left in airplane seats and weird hotels.

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves.

Self-confidence means thinking all the time, "God is in me... God is doing every­thing . . . without God I cannot be . . . all this is God . . . I only want to think of God."

Desire and determination must overcome disappointment.