Any measurement must take into account the position of the observer. There is no such thing as measurement absolute, there is only measurement relative.

We have a generation of kids who may never see a bookshelf or never see books in houses. What are they going to think about books? How will books become meaningful in their lives except as yet another form of digitalized content? A book is not just digitalized content.

Our own front door can be a wonderful thing, or a sight we dread; rarely is it only a door.

Writing has to have a great deal of certainty and self-assurance, but it's not arrogant.

When I left home at sixteen I bought a small rug. It was my roll-up world. Whatever room, whatever temporary place I had, I unrolled the rug. It was a map of myself. Invisible to others, but held in the rug, were all the places I had stayed - for a few weeks, for a few months. On the first night anywhere new I liked to lie in bed and look at the rug to remind myself that I had what I needed even though what I had was so little. Sometimes you have to live in precarious and temporary places. Unsuitable places. Wrong places. Sometimes the safe place won’t help you.

Unhappiness is selfish, grief is selfish. For whom are the tears?

Words are the part of silence that can be spoken.