Appreciation is the purest,strongest form of love. It is the outward-bound kind of love that asks for nothing and gives everything.

My readers often say to me, 'If we lived next door to each other, we'd be best friends.' That is precisely what I wanted to say to smart, funny, self-effacing Ellen McCarthy after I finished reading The Real Thing. I loved every lesson laid out in a book that wouldn't dare to call itself a field guide to marriage but amounts to as much on every page. This is a deeply useful little book.

How seriously can I take myself? I'm just one of six billion people, right?

Appreciation is the purest,strongest form of love. It is the outward-bound kind of love that asks for nothing and gives everything.

I envy my dad and his faith. I envy all people who have someone to beseech, who know where they're going, who sleep under the fluffy white comforter of belief.

You have to speak your dream out loud.

Raising people is not some lark. It's serious work with serious repercussions. It's air-traffic control. You can't step out for a minute; you can barely pause to scratch your ankle.