There was plenty for the eye to feast on, but nothing for the soul. He had a hunger for something that no sky could satisfy. Somewhere on the planet there had to be a different kind of light.

That's the strange thing about a good story. No pleasure if you can't share it.

With no other choices open to us, we'd turned our gaze seaward. The oceans were our America: they reached farther than any prairie, untamed as on the first day of creation. Nobody owned them.

They were probably scared of him and so they did what boys do around any object of fear: they went up close, pointed a finger, gave it a nickname, and masked their terror with roaring laughter.

They all lived so steeped in fear that the losses they had yet to suffer had already consumed them.

Nature was neither fair nor unfair. Those terms belonged to the world of men.

Your roots aren't to be found in your childhood so much as in your child. It's he who provides your link to the world, and home is wherever he is.

Loss was a night that never ended.

We were familiar with the line that separates grief from madness, and we know that sometimes the only way to stay on the right side of it is to scream.

Her grief was a burden so heavy, he came close to collapsing under it, and yet he couldn't lay it down.

Is there anything more heartbreaking than drowning in sight of land? Is there a single one of us who hasn't at least once felt haunted by the fear of slipping away within sight of a safe haven?

When did you first fall in love?""I think, I first fell in lovewhen I was in fifth gradewith this boy who kept his glass ruler in the sunlight and made rainbows on my desk with it.

You can be a really nasty, selfish little jerk when you're scared enough. I was scared enough.

High hopes were once formed of democracy

Our young men and women must be taught that through hard work, they can create opportunities for themselves and others.

The best thing I've done with my money is buy a house for my family. You wake up to a house you love and you feel like somebody.

I feel myself dissolving, vanishing into nothingness, for if there is no one in the world who cares for you, do you really exist at all?

Don't get me wrong, hard and soft fantasy stories can both be good. But you need to know which camp you're in. I'm into realism. I'm a hard fantasy guy.

A great investment opportunity occurs when a marvelous business encounters a one-time huge, but solvable problem.

Like father, like son: every good tree maketh good fruits.