My books are elegiac in the sense that they're odes to a nation that even I sometimes think may not exist anymore except in my memory and my imagination.

Every walk to the woods is a religious rite, every bath in the stream is a saving ordinance. Communion service is at all hours, and the bread and wine are from the heart and marrow of Mother Earth.

John Burroughs

I've always wanted to be an actress, ever since I was a little girl. I always played the mom and I played my sister as the daughter. I wanted to be an actress on television and movies instead of just around the house.

Dakota Fanning

I broke a mirror in my house. I'm supposed to get seven years of bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.

Steven Wright

I think part of being a parent is trying to kill your kids.

Stephen King

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

Pablo Picasso

All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.

Casey Stengel

The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from its meaning but from its certitude. No doctrine however profound and sublime will be effective unless it is presented as the embodiment of the one and only truth

Eric Hoffer, The True Believer:

Prayer is like water - something you can't imagine has the strength or power to do any good, and yet give it time and it can change the lay of the land.

Jodi Picoult

It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.

Anatole France

The light that burned twice as bright burned half as long.

Cassandra Clare

Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.

J.K. Rowling

I believe there is no philosophical high-road in science, with epistemological signposts. No, we are in a jungle and find our way by trial and error, building our road behind us as we proceed. We do not find signposts at crossroads, but our own scouts erect them, to help the rest.

Max Born