“Pictures and words don't hurt anyone, except for those who are afraid of history.”

“To learn from him, I did not have to believe he was a good man or a fair man.”

“What if . . . you come to the wild and discover that it is not wild at all? What if half the world is here before you?”

“It is a simple thing, a name. We are given one, we grow in to it, we bear it. Simple for the rest of creation.”

“The challenge for those of us who care about our faith and about a hurting world is to tell stories which will carry the words of grace and hope in their bones and sinews and not wear them like fancy dress.”

“A good zoo," Stella said, "is a large domain. A wild cage. A safe place to be. It has room to roam and humans who don't hurt." She pauses, considering her words. "A good zoo is how humans make amends.”

“But I think everybody should write. I think those people with stories who don't write should be stomped on. ”