It is true that I do not speak as well as I can think. But that is true of most people, as nearly as I can tell.

Americans who read and think are patriots of the first order. The kind who know enough to roll their eyes whenever anyone tries to claim sole custody of the flag and weild it as a blunt instrument. There are as many ways to love America as there are Americans, and our country needs us all.

A dog can't think that much about what he's doing, he just does what feels right.

Few people know so clearly what they want. Most people can't even think what to hope for when they throw a penny in a fountain.

At some point in my life I'd honestly hoped love would rescue me from the cold, drafty castle I lived in. But at another point, much earlier I think, I'd quietly begun to hope for nothing at all in the way of love, so as not to be disappointed. It works. It gets to be a habit.

Now I'm starting to think he wasn't supposed to be my whole life, he was just this doorway to me.

Parenting is something that happens mostly while you're thinking of something else.

I rarely think of poetry as something I make happen; it is more accurate to say that it happens to me. Like a summer storm, a house afire, or the coincidence of both on the same day.

There are some who'd hardly lift a finger for kindness, but they would haul up a load of rock to dump on some soul they think's been too lucky.