Children have to have access to books, and a lot of children can't go to a store and buy a book. We need not only our public libraries to be funded properly and staffed properly, but our school libraries. Many children can't get to a public library, and the only library they have is a school library.

You don't have to fight dragons to write books. You just have to live deeply the life you've been given.

You have to believe it and you hate it. I don't have to and I think it's beautiful.

What we need to wake people up to now is the crisis in imagination and concern for the greater good. We have no idea what the next ten years, much less the next fifty years, will demand of the coming generation. What we do know is that unless we have a people prepared and eager to meet those crises creatively and compassionately, there is not much hope for this poor old planet of ours.

The name we give to something shapes our attitude toward it.

I realize, of course, that I wasn't born knowing how to read. I just can't imagine a time when I didn't know how.

Peace is not won by those who fiercely guard their differences, but by those who with open minds and hearts seek out connections.