I will never understand children. I never pretended to. I meet mothers all the time who make resolutions to themselves. 'I'm going to ... go out of my way to show them I am interested in them and what they do. I am going to understand my children.' These women end up making rag rugs, using blunt scissors.

The fact that Americans drag around the world by the busloads to glimpse the past probably has something to do with the youth of our country. We revere anything older than George Burns.

When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.

I remember thinking how often we look, but never see ... we listen, but never hear ... we exist, but never feel. We take our relationships for granted. A house is only a place. It has no life of its own. It needs human voices, activity and laughter to come alive.

As a child, my number one best friend was the librarian in my grade school. I actually believed all those books belonged to her.

One certainty when you travel is the moment you arrive in a foreign country, the American dollar will fall like a stone.

In the South Pacific, because of their size, mosquitoes are required to file flight plans.