I know that when I pray, something wonderful happens. Not just to the person or persons for whom I'm praying, but also something wonderful happens to me. I'm grateful that I'm heard.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

We are all creative, but by the time we are three of four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us. Some people shut up the kids who start to tell stories. Kids dance in their cribs, but someone will insist they sit still. By the time the creative people are ten or twelve, they want to be like everyone else.

I've always written. There's a journal which I kept from about 9 years old. The man who gave it to me lived across the street from the store and kept it when my grandmother's papers were destroyed. I'd written some essays. I loved poetry, still do. But I really, really loved it then.

My work is to be honest. My work is to try to think clearly, then have the courage to make sure that what I say is the truth.

Whining is not only graceless, but it can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.

Through the centuries, we faced down death by daring to hope.