“The best way to judge a life is to ask yourself, "Did I make the best use of the time I had?”

“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.”

“The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.”

“The best thing I ever did in my life was make you mine, Stace.”

“In the final exam in the Chaucer course we were asked why he used certain verbal devices, certain adjectives, why he had certain characters behave in certain ways. And I wrote, 'I don't think Chaucer had any idea why he did any of these things. That isn't the way people write.'I believe this as strongly now as I did then. Most of what is best in writing isn't done deliberately.”

“. . . . I cannot escape my life but can only use my determination and courage to make it the best I can.”