As I look back on what I have written, I can see that the very persons who have taken away my time are those who have given me something to say.

If you're so afraid of your imagination that you stifle it, how are you going to know God? How can you imagine heaven?

A great novel is a kind of conversion experience. We come away from it changed.

I cannot, will not, withhold from my young readers the harsh realities of human hunger and suffering and loss, but neither will I neglect to plant that stubborn seed of hope that has enabled our race to outlast wars and famines and the destruction of death.

Everything comes in useful once in a hundred years.

Mandarin ducks mate for life and will die of loneliness if separated from their chosen mate.

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.