“My world got very small, the way it always does when someone in your family is sick.”

“If you treat every question like you've never heard it before, your students feel like you respect them and everyone learns a lot more. Including the teacher.”

“Its a good thing babies dont give you a lot of time to think. You fall in love with them and when you realize how much they love you back, life is very simple.”

“It was one of those perfect fall days when the air is cool enough to wake you up but the sun is also kissing your face.”

“Mort moved my ending to the beginning, took out all the adjectives, cut the whole thing in half, and made it one hundred percent better.'That's how it's done,' he said. Best writing lesson I ever had.”

“Babies are the buds of life ready to bloom like a fresh flower to refresh humanity.”

“Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.”

“The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.”

“It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.”

“It didn't matter that there was a war on our doorstep. She had things to do, places to be.”

“Stranger inside me, when you are born, I will give youa closed book and ask you never to read it, never rest, never forgive a man who wants to save you.”