No writer should minimize the factor that affects everyone, but is beyond control: luck.

The pain comes from knowing that we have never been safe, and therefore will never be safe again. It comes from knowing we can never be so ignorant again. It comes from knowing we can never be children again. Losing innocence. Remembering heaven. That was the essence of hell.

The first treasure California began to surrender after the Gold Rush as the oldest: her land.

Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.

If you're "one in a million", and the world is full of seven billion people, that means there are seven thousand people just like you.

But these few are the salt of the earth; without them, human life would become a stagnant pool. Not only is it they who introduce good things which did not before exist, it is they who keep the life in those which already existed.