True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. It is not contempt its essence is love. It issues not in laughter but in still smiles which lie far deeper.

A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.

Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey.

Wherever my story takes me however dark and difficult the theme there is always some hope and redemption not because readers like happy endings but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning that there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

I think they'd rather us follow our hearts and I hope that's what some people will understand.

Logic is one thing the human animal another. You can quite easily propose a logical solution to something and at the same time hope in your heart of hearts it won't work out.

I am very lucky that I get to tell stories for a living. I love being able to grab people's attention to keep them turning the pages to make them stay awake all night. I want to stir the pulse yes but also to stir the heart. I hope 'The Woods' does that.

Hope can be the most wonderful thing in the world or it can crush your heart like an eggshell.

For me Barack Obama's election was a milestone of the most extraordinary kind. On the day he was elected I felt such hope in my heart. I thought we were seeing the beginning of a new era of equal opportunity across race and gender such as America had never known before.

My hope for my children must be that they respond to the still small voice of God in their own hearts.