"The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and must therefore be treated with great caution."

"I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself. I never in my wildest dreams expected this popularity."

"The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous."

"I don't read 'chick lit,' fantasy or science fiction but I'll give any book a chance if it's lying there and I've got half an hour to kill."

"It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well."

"I make one pledge above all others - to seek and speak the truth with all the resources of mind and spirit I command."

"Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all."

"In the depths of adversity, the mind is a garden where thoughts are the seeds."