The failure of modern living is the failure of the imagination...Literature is the royal road that enables us to enter the realm of the imagination.

Each of us is comprised of stories, stories not only about ourselves but stories about ancestors we never knew and people we've never met. We have stories we love to tell and stories we have never told anyone. The extent to which others know us is determined by the stories we choose to share. We extend a deep trust to someone when we say, "I'm going to tell you something I've never told anyone." Sharing stories creates trust because through stories we come to a recognition of how much we have in common.

Often, the human animal dresses terror in rage, and expresses both in a way unlike either.

Goodness was not a trait you acquired; it was a value you practiced when you were on the verge of doing evil.

The young accept the extraordinary as normal because they do not compare their lives with those of others when everyone is like them.

Dying ain't important. Everyone does that. What's important is how well you do your living.

A good teacher is one who helps you become who you feel yourself to be. A good teacher is also one who says something that you won't understand until 10 years later.