A character has a distinctive voice - you should be able to hear them in your head and conduct a conversation with them while you're out walking. If the answers surprise you, you know it's the character speaking and not you.

Knowing that books are something that is hidden, that almost has that alchemical quality to it. There is a secret society in here, and if you belong to it, you'll be able to transform your lead into gold. I have that rather magical sense about books - that they do, somehow, have special powers.

There is no discovery without risk and what you risk reveals what you value.

She must find a boat and sail in it. No guarantee of shore. Only a conviction that what she wanted could exist, if she dared to find it.

Time is a player. Time is part of today, not simply a measure of its passing.

August. We were arguing. You want love to be like this every day don't you? 92 degrees even in the shade.

Their throats were bare for God.