The best time to cry is at night, when the lights are out and someone is being beaten up and screaming for help.

As a child I wanted to be a professional athlete or lawyer.

We’re suggesting that [kids are] missing something if they don’t read but, actually, we’re condemning kids to a lesser life. If you had a sick patient, you would not try to entice them to take their medicine. You would tell them, ‘Take this or you’re going to die.’ We need to tell kids flat out: reading is not optional.

We all know we should eat right and we should exercise, but reading is treated as if it's this wonderful adjunct.

I admired the work ethic of the cowboys I read about. The idea of these young people taking on this much responsibility was impressive. I would like modern readers to have an appreciation of this.

And what I was feeling was the wonder Of being more than me, of being more Than mere here and now allowed I had become a shining star, a burning nova Exploded with love Flying through an endlessly Expanding universe Away from the me that was Toward a me that is beyond Understanding.

America believes what's good for us is good for the world. It's very difficult to understand that that's not necessarily true.