No matter how much we love a book, the experience of reading it isn't complete until we can give it to someone who will love it as much as we do

I don't believe in fate, as in, which I - as a Catholic, I think, sort of predestination. But I certainly believe in chance.

You can't always trust what you think, what you know ... but you can always trust your nature.

The thing you can count on in life is that Tennessee will always be scorching hot in August.

The tricky thing about being a writer, or about being any kind of artist, is that in addition to making art you also have to make a living.

There can be something cruel about people who have had good fortune. They equate it with personal goodness.

I could teach. I could wait tables. I could cook in a restaurant. Food and teaching were the two skills I had.