I have a lifelong devotion to public service.

I grew up in a household where reading was encouraged. My mother believed in the power of words, and my father obviously did too.

When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.

I have come to believe, more strongly than ever, that after people die they really do live on through those who love them.

I never thought I'd be doing poetry books. I never really studied poetry. But the first one I did was after my mother died, and I realized that people sort of think and talk about her style and fashion, but in fact, what made her the person she was was really her love of reading and ideas.

The most beautiful people are all in the library.

People don't always realize that my parents shared a sense of intellectual curiosity and a love of reading and of history.