“Then, as if in answer to a riddle posed years before, you will realize that this growth came from seeds you planted or watered or carried from place to place—and you’ll be rewarded in the way that we as communal beings need most: you’ll know you made a difference.” 

“people in the same room understand and empathize with each other in a way that isn’t possible on the page or screen.” 

“Suddenly, it seems ridiculous that we just came from a city airport named for Columbus, a terrible navigator who insisted to his dying day that he was in India—which is why people here are called Indians. As the Native women in Houston said, “It could have been worse—he could have thought he was in Turkey.” 

“As with all inferior things, this part of the city was given an adjective while the rest stole the noun.” 

“we have to behave as if everything we do matters. Because it might.” 

“Surrealism is the triumph of form over content.” 

“Wherever I go, bookstores are still the closest thing to a town square.” 

“I can go on the road - because I can come home. I come home - because I'm free to leave. Each way of being is more valued in the presence of the other.” 

“Having someone who looks like us but thinks like them is worse than having no one at all.” 

“A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.” 

“Laughter is a rescue. p.204” 

“Far too many people are looking for the right person, instead of trying to be the right person.” 

“Empathy is the most radical of human emotions.” 

“You're always the person you were when you were born," she says impatiently. "You just keep finding new ways to express it.” 

“Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.” 

“so whatever you want to do, just do it...Making a damn fool of yourself is absolutely essential.” 

“We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.” 

“Once we give up searching for approval we often find it easier to earn respect.” 

I was always drawn to the didgeridoo.

It's always great to visit Taranaki; it's beautiful, and I've caught some great waves there.

Do what you will while you're able, find what it is that you seek.

Follow, follow the sun, and which way the wind blows, when this day is done. Breathe, breathe in the air. Set your intentions. Dream with care.

I think that everybody likes the bad guy.

I'm not very excitable as a person. What I say is, I'm always chillin', I'm always chillin'.