The people who loved me when I was seven years old love my books, and the people who didn't like me when I was seven years old don't like my books.

There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away. (107)

When you read a piece of writing that you admire, send a note of thanks to the author.

I end up feeling like a spy in the house of ethnicity, you know? Because people will talk around me as they would talk around the people in their cultural group. So I get to hear all the secrets and jokes and you know, I'm a part of every community because of the way I look.

Read. Read 1000 pages for every 1 page that you write.

Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.

The librarian spoke in a reverential whisper. Corliss knew she'd misjudged this passionate woman. Maybe she dressed poorly, but she was probably great in bed, certainly believed in God and goodness, and kept an illicit collection of overdue library books on her shelves.