Well, listen, Obi-Wan,” Philby said sarcastically. “Why don’t you tell me and Luke here where to find him, and we’ll make for hyperspace.

The difference between paranoia and remaining alert is how you let your fear affect you.

For the first-time novelist you’ve got to get up at 5:30 in the morning and write until 7, make breakfast and go to work. Or, come home and work for an hour. Everybody has an hour in their day somewhere.

Not every story is true,” he said. “Not every rumor is false.

Finn stood away from all the water with his friend Dillard, who had taken the occasion to borrow one of his father’s Hawaiian shirts. Finn thought he looked pretty cool.

Maybe we all dream pieces of the future but just don’t happen to know it.

The wise camel is not swayed by desert mirages; instead, it trudges on, in search for true water.

Amazing things happen when we put our minds to it. There is a saying that seeing is believing. But believing is seeing, as well. And touching. And hearing. Connecting.

So does that mean we get Eric, too?” Willa said. “Because Eric is definitely hot, and if I had my choice I’d take Eric over some white-haired king merman any day.

As a young boy, I read ‘Cheaper by the Dozen’ and immediately became neurotic about my use of time. It taxed me severely, but only for the next 50 years. But I think it also allowed me to discipline myself to sit in the chair and be a writer, where one of the most needed qualities is patience.