“Where do storytellers find the wisdom to discover their own stories? From no place more mysterious than their own hearts.”

“We writers can use our own longing - and frequently do - without ever having to understand or analyze it. That is why our stories are often wiser than we are.”

“It is the nature of stories to leave out far more than they include.”

“So much longing.So many livesfilledwith longing.It's what stories―all our stories―are made of.And what is longingmade ofexcept hope?”

“RUNT is my FAVORITE book.It starts out small.Then,it gets exciting in the middle.In the end it settled.”

“But never in his saddest dreams had he thought he'd spend his last years dusting this enormous old house for no one at all.”

“A good friend of mine once said, "I have never met a bigot who was a reader as a child.”