Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more.

I change jobs like drinking water ... And as I grow accustomed to the new flavor of a drink I regard as delicious, yes, vital, something fades, life balks. So I break camp; I shed skins.

One definition of eternity is that we are not alone on this planet, that there are those who've gone before and those who will come, and that there is a community of spirits.

I grew up in Ohio, where civil-rights accomplishments had already begun to accelerate before Martin Luther King appeared. In hindsight, we know that many people, black and white, were instrumental in changing the Jim Crow status quo on all levels.

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

What writing does is to reveal.

I carry a notebook with me everywhere. But that's only the first step.