Don't ever let the other stuff get in the way of your inherent skills as a kick-butt storyteller. Move the reader, make them happy and sad and excited and scared. Make them stare into space after they've put the book down, thinking about the tale that's become a part of them.

I really love middle-grade. Middle-grade books have a little more of a magical, light-hearted feel. You can be a little bit more quirky, you can have a little more humor. It doesn't get so dark and deep.

Melancholy and sadness are the start of doubt... doubt is the beginning of despair; despair is the cruel beginning of the differing degrees of wickedness.

Taste is the fundamental quality which sums up all the other qualities. It is the nec plus ultra of the intelligence. Through this alone is genius the supreme health and balance of all the faculties.

Poetry must be made by all and not by one.

Whenever the lion fish in the fish tank in the captain's ready room died it was always a sad moment.

All the things that happen to people in the industry today, the actors, what they have to put up with, all the people wanting to know every single moment of their lives - I think it's really sad.

A lot has been written about Tony Perkins and myself and I figured, Let's get it straight. I had a relationship with Tony for two to three years, but those are only threads in the tapestry of my whole life.

To complain now would be kind of sad. I like the way things are going.

It's probably a bit of a power trip when you befriend somebody enough that they trust you to tell you things.

I covered my face because they had taken my wisdom teeth out.

The only way change will ever happen is if we speak up, and we have to know that it actually has an impact. Because we have a lot more power than we think we do, I think.

Since I had the baby I can't tolerate anything violent or sad, I saw the Matrix and I had my eyes closed through a lot of it, though I didn't need to. I would peek, and then think, oh OK, I can see that.

Shirley MacLaine said, You're so funny, then gave me a hug. Everything went white. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see. I thought I was going to pass out.

Many things have been said about what happened, but I don't know either. Maybe someday. One thing I'm sure of is that all the things that have happened to me, good and bad, happy and sad, have made me what I am today.

Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.

If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.

Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it.

Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.

Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living.

We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.

Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.

Sinful and forbidden pleasures are like poisoned bread; they may satisfy appetite for the moment, but there is death in them at the end.

Right actions in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past.

One of the great lessons the fall of the leaf teaches, is this: do your work well and then be ready to depart when God shall call.

High aims form high characters, and great objects bring out great minds.

Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steady gains in strength, At first it may be but as a spider's web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.

To rule one's anger is well; to prevent it is better.

Serenity is the balance between good and bad, life and death, horrors and pleasures. Life is, as it were, defined by death. If there wasn't death of things, then there wouldn't be any life to celebrate.

People don't see very often their death coming... Look at the French Revolution: The king of France was thinking in the 1780s, 'We're doing rather better than my father in the 1770s.'

Only by painting the great panorama of history, can the great history-reading public be entertained or satisfied.

I first heard of General Anders and his army more than 50 years ago. I admired him then, and I admire him still; and I feel a special bond with the men, women and children whom he rescued from hunger, disease, and official abuse. Theirs is a story of endurance and fortitude that gives one faith in the human spirit.

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.

Football (soccer) is a matter of life and death, except more important.

What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.

Your joys and sorrows. You can never tell them. You cheapen the inside of yourself if you do tell them.

Being a movie star, and this applies to all of them, means being looked at from every possible direction. You are never left at peace, you're just fair game.

I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference.

I want to be alone.

Anyone who has a continuous smile on his face conceals a toughness that is almost frightening.

Poetry, I think, intensifies the reader's experience. If it's a humorous facet of the story, poetry makes it more exuberant. If it's a sad facet, poetry can make it more poignant.

In general, questions are fine; you can always seize upon the parts of them that interest you and concentrate on answering those. And one has to remember when answering questions that asking questions isn't easy either, and for someone who's quite shy to stand up in an audience to speak takes some courage.

I think you have to know how you feel when you're sad and it's healthy to mourn if a relationship ends.

I look up to my mom. She's a beautiful woman.

I love live music and I love to see people's faces when I'm performing.

I'm so accustomed to being alone.

I used to drink tons of caffeine. Now I make smoothies with frozen berries and Green Vibrance health powder.

When I do get free time, I spend a lot of it at home with my family and my close friends and I think that's what keeps me happy, healthy, grounded, and totally in check.

I think women should be seductive, not triste. There's enough sadness in life now without making women look sad, too.

If you're sad about what you see in the mirror when you wake up every morning, you must change it.