Another belief of mine; that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.

The reader cannot see into your heart. He will know only what you tell him. Make the blind see your words. Make the hard-hearted feel. Make the deaf hear.

I know that some books and some writers, you can pretty much draw a square around it and say, 'Nobody under 40,' or 'Nobody under 25.' With my books, it always has been, and continues to be, spread right across the board, and I think the operative term is 'reader.'

Religions in general have to rediscover their roots. In Hinduism and the Koran, animals are described as equals. If you walk into a cathedral and look at the decorations of early Christianity, there are vines, animals, creatures and birds thriving all over the stonework.

Every novel is-at the beginning-the same opening of a door onto a completely unknown space.

There's nothing like a shovel full of dirt to encourage literacy.

The threat to the planet is us. It's actually not a threat to the planet - it's a threat to us.