Even after I'd published three books and had been writing full-time for twenty years, my father continued to urge me to go to law school.

The world is so huge that people are always getting lost in it. There are too many ideas and things and people too many directions to go. I was starting to believe that the reason it matters to care passionately about something is that it whittles the world down to a more manageable size. It makes the world seem not huge and empty but full of possibility.

In the course of transferring all my CDs to my iPod, I have found myself wandering the musical hallways of my past and reacquainting myself with music I haven't listened to in years.

The fact that dogs are not people means you don't have as much response to the particulars.

One of the very best reasons for having children is to be reminded of the incomparable joys of a snow day.

College athletics are so entrenched and enjoyed by so many people that they will never be discontinued or substantially changed. I know that. I just pity the people caught in that tender trap. And most of all, I pity those kids.

I think coexisting with another life form is a very rich experience. It's why people keep plants and animals.