Through writing, through that process, they realize that they become more intelligent, and more honest and more imaginative than they can be in any other part of their life.

Lists of books we reread and books we can't finish tell more about us than about the relative worth of the books themselves.

Nobody does anything for one reason.

Public libraries are the sole community centers left in America. The degree to which a branch of the local library is connected to the larger culture is a reflection of the degree to which the community itself is connected to the larger culture.

We know that people we love are both good and bad, but we expect strangers to be one or the other.

My major allegiance has been to storytelling, not to history.

Loyalty is weird, it kicks in when you dont expect it and the people who deserve loyalty least seem to get it the most.