“If the phone rings...then you and I, greedy newshounds that we are, will jump up -- even if it rings during the good part -- and chase that perverse thrill of another big headline, another shocking story. We'll shake our heads that it excites us so, but we will give up sleep, food and love for the story.”

“Christmas makes me schmaltzy. I'm proud to be level-headed, even a little tough most of the time. But once a year I like to believe that peace on earth may be possible and calories don't count.”

“Reporters can't douse flames or soothe burns. They have no control over the horrors they witness. But if they can overcome fear and physical obstacles and wrestle the monster to the page before the sun comes up, it's a victory -- not just for the newspaper staff but for all those sleeping soundly who will find the facts at their fingertips and all those victims whose suffering won't go unnoticed.”

“Never trust a man who dresses too well or stays too clean. It ain't natural and whatever he's up to probably ain't legal.”

“Losing a mate to death is devastating but it's not a personal attack like divorce. When somebody you love stops loving you and walks away, it's an insult beyond comparison.”

“Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk.”

“The truth is, in order to heal we need to tell our stories and have them witnessed...The story itself becomes a vessel that holds us up, that sustains, that allows us to order our jumbled experiences into meaning.As I told my stories of fear, awakening, struggle, and transformation and had them received, heard, and validated by other women, I found healing.I also needed to hear other women's stories in order to see and embrace my own. Sometimes another woman's story becomes a mirror that shows me a self I haven't seen before. When I listen to her tell it, her experience quickens and clarifies my own. Her questions rouse mine. Her conflicts illumine my conflicts. Her resolutions call forth my hope. Her strengths summon my strengths. All of this can happen even when our stories and our lives are very different.”