When we humans speak, we are not merely communicating information but attempting to make an impression and achieve a goal.

Like most-maybe all- writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books.

All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.

Reading was like eating alone, with that same element of bingeing.

What I love is how pissed off Jane Eyre is. She's in a rage for the whole novel and the payoff is she gets to marry this blind guy who's toasted his wife in the attic." -Angela Argo "Blue Angel

A lot of girls who turn into something remarkable start off as irrepressible, confident and a handful.

Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.

We never believe we're beautiful, no matter how many times we hear it. We never believe it until someone says it in the right way.

I’ve always found that the better the book I’m reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter.

I know a lot of Eastern Europeans, and because of what they have been through and what they have seen, they have an attitude where they are not easily fooled.

I can no more reread my own books than I can watch old home movies or look at snapshots of myself as a child. I wind up sitting on the floor, paralyzed by grief and nostalgia.

character is not made in a crisis- it is only exhibited

He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune for they are impediments to great enterprises either of virtue or mischief.

I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead.

The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike...Unless we return to the crude and nursery-like belief in objective values, we perish.

We must send a message that visa expiration dates will be strongly enforced.

The comic spirit masquerades in all things we say and do. We are each a clown and do not need to put on a white face.

Now you know that you can't go wrong... If you start each day with a song.

We are combining elements like tuxedos and workwear, for contrast; some looks also are based on 30s-era inspirations.

To my mind, healing means returning a malfunctioning human body to full unrestricted function, not to remove parts of it by operation or amputation

I am the Earl of Ravensmoor. And you are? (Sparhawk) Totally freaking out. (Taryn) Tis a most peculiar name, milady. Are you by chance Welsh? (Sparhawk)