Come to think of it, just about every tool was shaped like either a weenie or a pistol, depending on your point of view.

The way I see it, a person isn't nothing more than a scarecrow... The only difference between one that stands up good and one that blows over is what kind of a stick they're stuck up there on.

Growing food was the first activity that gave us enough prosperity to stay in one place, form complex social groups, tell our stories, and build our cities.

It's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known.

My morning begins with trying not to get up before the sun rises. But when I do, it's because my head is too full of words, and I just need to get to my desk and start dumping them into a file. I always wake with sentences pouring into my head.

In the places that call me out, I know I'll recover my wordless childhood trust in the largeness of life and its willingness to take me in.

Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.