It's always more comforting to know that in any given corner of any room or any location you're on, you can make a photograph that you'll appreciate.
Writing is a supernatural thing.
Since that night I have come to understand that sometimes the best families of all are those we create ourselves, the people we choose to be with.
I always tell my writing students that every good piece of writing begins with both a mystery and a love story. And that every single sentence must be a poem. And that economy is the key to all good writing. And that every character has to have a secret.
Maybe all the secrets of life were written on the surface of leaves, waiting to be translated. If I touched them long enough, I might be given some information no one else had.
Strange, how such a small realization can affect everyone's life forever. In movies there is always a carefully staged moment - a big crescendo of music, close- ups of the actors' faces, the camera slowly pulling away to let all this sink in for the viewer. . . but, in real life, most all of the extraordinary things happen with no more loudness than a whisper.
I had always found comfort in the leaves, in their silence. They were like a parchment that holds words of wisdom. Simply holding them in my hand gave me some of the peace a tree possesses. To be like that-to just be-that's the most noble thing of all.
Happiness is like the mountain summit. It is sometimes hidden by clouds, but we know it is there.
A true friend is someone with whom protocol is no longer necessary.
Everywhere you look, there is a charity or a project in school to get involved in. In eighth grade, there was this program called CJSF, California Junior Scholarship Foundation. We were involved in soup kitchens and toy drives, and your school can set up something like that. If your school doesn't have a program like that, set one up.
Say it, do it, preach it, shout it, but never, absolutely never, believe your own bullshit.