Courage is just fear, plus prayers, plus understanding.

Our scholastic system isn't structured to make sure that kids in the fifth or sixth grades absolutely know how to read.

I was getting bored and, I think, being a real pest. I remember Brando coming and sitting on the bed and cutting out the most exquisite paper fish, with detailed scales and fins. Then he took a hotel pen and a piece of string and made a fishing pole.

It was a very magical upbringing, the quality of feeling special, and people treated us special. You tried real hard to remember all the normal things so you didn't get twisted.

It's no coincidence that I began writing the day my daughter started school. I knew everything I knew before I began to write, but I was raising two children and didn't have the time to get to the typewriter.

My life had been very work-orientated, and all in close-up. Once I had the family, it went into sudden widescreen.

Anytime I prepare a meal for my family, I am putting all of my time, effort, energy, and love into it.

I think they are paying a lot more attention to news now, by the way, in part because of national-security issues. A lot of young people have friends or family in the military today.