Remember, people will judge you by your actions not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold but so does a hard-boiled egg.

Listen carefully to what country people call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched the collective wisdom of generations.

Nothing hurts more than realizing they meant everything to you, but you meant nothing to them.

The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear.

I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.

Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily.

I liked to write from the time I was about 12 or 13. I loved to read. And since I only spoke to my brother, I would write down my thoughts. And I think I wrote some of the worst poetry west of the Rockies. But by the time I was in my 20s, I found myself writing little essays and more poetry - writing at writing.