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

I have been mocked by beauty, too. But it was the beauty which cost me nothing that in the end turned upon me.

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

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.

We humans have had from time unknown the compulsion to name things and thus to be able to deal with them. The name we give to something shapes our attitude toward it. And in ancient thought the name itself has power, so that to know someone's name is to have a certain power over him. And in some societies, as you know, there was a public name and a real or secret name, which would not be revealed to others.

...those of us who write for children are called, not to do something to a child, but be someone for a child.

It's such a thrill when an adult comes up to me and says, 'I read your book as a child and really loved it.' That's a tremendous compliment.