On the streets, unrequited love and death go together almost as often as in Shakespeare.

The truth of the matter is that the people who succeed in the arts most often are the people who get up again after getting knocked down. Persistence is critical.

For thousands and thousands of American kids, libraries are the only safe place they can find to study, a haven free from the dangers of street or the numbing temptations of television. As schools cut back services, the library looms even more important to countless children.

The Guild is the authoritative voice of American writers.

The law, for all its failings, has a noble goal - to make the little bit of life that people can actually control more just. We can't end disease or natural disasters, but we can devise rules for our dealings with one another that fairly weigh the rights and needs of everyone, and which, therefore, reflect our best vision of ourselves.

Who are we but the stories we tell about ourselves, particularly if we accept them?

Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to carry on with dignity in spite of it.