Water seeks its own level. Look at them. The Tigris, the Euphrates, the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Yangtze. The world's great rivers. And every one of them finds its way to the ocean.

I'll live in another world, then.

We had so much fun together as friends that I suggested we [with Kate DiCamillo] write a book together.

Wouldn't want to miss a war, would I?

Walk slowly; all you can ever come to is yourself.

Kate [DiCamillo] tends to be more reluctant about change. I convinced her to give it a try and she came over.

The world should have stopped, but it didn't. The world kept on going. How can the world just keep on going? An earthquake in India kills a thousand people, and the world keeps on going. A famine in China kills a million people, and the world keeps on going. The twin towers of the World Trade Center buckle and fall, and the world, the world keeps on going.