It wasn't so much that he minded telling Leslie that he was afraid to go; it was that he minded being afraid. It was as though he had been made with a great piece missing - one of May Belle's puzzles with this huge gap where somebody's eye should have been. Lord, it would be better to be born without an arm than to go through life with no guts.

What I really want to do is to write a hilarious farce.

It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading.

It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.

Crazy people who are judged to be harmless are allowed an enormous amount of freedom ordinary people are denied.

As much pleasure as young people get from Twittering and texting, there is no way these activities will nourish their minds and spirits the way literature can.

It's like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.