That's how fossil hunting is: It takes over, like a hunger, and nothing else matters but what you find. And even when you find it, you still start looking again the next minute, because there might be something even better waiting.

I find that when I come out of the library I'm in what I call the library bliss of being totally taken away from the distractions of life.

I didn't move. I've learned from years of experience that dogs and falcons and ladies come back to you if you stay where you are.

You're so calm and quiet, you never say. But there are things inside you. I see them sometimes, hiding in your eyes.

Don't write about what you know - write about what you're interested in. Don't write about yourself - you aren't as interesting as you think.

I have consistently loved books that I've read when I've been sick in bed.

It was not a house where secrets could be kept easily.