The lesson we have yet to learn from dogs, that could sustain us, is that having no apprehension of the past or future is not limiting but liberating.

Orchid hunting is a mortal occupation.

I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.

Living in a rural setting exposes you to so many marvelous things - the natural world and the particular texture of small-town life, and the exhilarating experience of open space.

You have to simply love writing, and you have to remind yourself often that you love it.

Libraries are what is best about us as a society: open, exciting, rich, informative, free, inclusive, engaging.

One of the very best reasons for having children is to be reminded of the incomparable joys of a snow day.

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.

An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exceptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain.

There's a marvelous sense of mastery that comes with writing a sentence that sounds exactly as you want it to.

Even after I'd published three books and had been writing full-time for twenty years, my father continued to urge me to go to law school.

I suppose we should contact the local authorities?” said W

Don’t dwell on the circumstances, focus on God’s grace.

A story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling people around us what we think is important.

My attitude is that, if you have nothing to hide, why not show it?

I would even say that my parents, and their friends in our community, thought of education as a kind of armor against racism.

The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied. That he was a criminal.

Never once have I thought that Social Security would be something that would ever be available to me.

There's digital fatigue. When you can do everything, you can actually do nothing.

You're the only one in control over your golf ball. It's not like tennis: you're hitting a shot and somebody's hitting it back at you.

Women do most delight in revenge.