To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.

Reading has made such a profound difference to my life. I'm sure I became a writer because of the power of literature in my own life.

Many people are angry when they make a mistake, but very few people have the sense to be sorry.

Sometimes you need to give people something that's for them, not just something that makes you feel good giving it.

The difference between writing a story and simply relating past events is that a story, in order to be acceptable, must have shape and meaning. It is the old idea that art is the bringing of order out of chaos.

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

On Decoration Day, while everyone else in town was at the cemetery decorating the graves of our Glorious War Dead, Willie Beaner and me, Robert Burns Hewitt, took Mabel Cramm's bloomers and run them up the flagpole in front of the town hall. That was the beginning of all my troubles.