“If you can't experience the humanity of people who don't look like you, you're not civilized enough to be an officer of the peace.”

“A third-grader when WWII started, I was also waging my own "war effort." It was deeply magical thinkingI really thought what I did or didn't do could save lives, win battles, bring my dad and uncle...”

“My parents didn't settle for the lives their parents lived. They stepped out and up, my father lying his way into the Navy when he was too young to enlist, my mother marrying this fugitive from the...”

“I'm a writer to the bone. I love this language you and I read, write and speak. It's called English. And I'm seriously doubting that it's known to some of the unseen people who write the news.”

“The Church's obsession with sexual restrictions is and always has been wrong wrong wrong. Wrong to be contemptuous of nave young women like Philomena and me. Wrong to ignore the men involved in cre...”

“Go to any airport in this country and youll see how well our government is dealing with the terrible danger youre in. TSA staffers are wanding 90-year-old ladies in wheelchairs, and burrowing throu...”

“I still believe that peace and plenty and happiness can be worked out some way. I am a fool.”

“She doesn't need your money. Even a penniless fool like you can make her fall in love with you. That's just miracle.”

“And the world re-ordered itself around me. I spoke each word carefully. 'You are so stupid.”

“I built an idea in my head of the hero I wanted to be, a grab bag of traits from heroes, villains, and side characters. I did not have book role models, I had book blueprints.But there remained a h...”

“I am not always good and noble. I am the hero of this story, but I have my off moments.”

“Ethan: "You think I'm a hero?"Beth: "Yes."Ethan: "But lousy husband material?" Like that really mattered to him.Beth: "Don't sweat it. So was Superman.”