Plato said that poets should be excluded from the ideal republic because they are such liars. I am a poet, and I affirm that this is true. About no subject are poets tempted to lie so much as about their own lives; I know one of them who has floated at least five versions of his autobiography, none of them true. I of course - being also a novelist - am a much more truthful person than that. But since poets lie, how can you believe me?

I myself discovered many authors through school reading lists and through school anthologies. The positives are: young readers can find the world opening up to them through books they study. The negatives may include bad experiences kids have - if they don't like the book or the teacher, or the way the book is taught.

Happiness is a garden walled with glass: there's no way in or out.

The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read.

The heart of Jesus glowed, because it was holy. Holy things glowed in general.

I did not know how to paint or even what to paint, but I knew I had to begin.

he might die for her, but living for her would be quite different.