No government is here forever. And there are other forces - the most potent force in our society, in fact, big business - doing good for the environment. Jared Diamond
Eurasia ended up with the most domesticated animal species in part because it's the world's largest land mass and offered the most wild species to begin with. Jared Diamond
Some people have much more pull than other people. But when I say that the public has ultimate responsibility, I'm not saying it in a moral sense. I'm just saying it in the sense of what is it that's really going to bring change. Jared Diamond
Starbucks goes to a great effort, and pays twice as much for its coffee as its competitors do, and is very careful to help coffee producers in developing countries grow coffee without pesticides and in ways that preserve forest structure. Jared Diamond
It's striking that Native Americans evolved no devastating epidemic diseases to give to Europeans, in return for the many devastating epidemic diseases that Indians received from the Old World. Jared Diamond
It distresses me that parents insist that their children read or make them read. The best way for children to treasure reading is to see the adults in their lives reading for their own pleasure. Kate DiCamillo
I always write with music. It takes me a while to figure out the right piece of music for what I'm working on. Once I figure it out, that's the only thing I'll play. Kate DiCamillo
Reading should not be presented to children as a chore, a duty. It should be offered as a gift. Kate DiCamillo
I am single and childless, but I have lots of friends and I am an aunt to three lovely children. Kate DiCamillo
Every well-written book is a light for me. When you write, you use other writers and their books as guides in the wilderness. Kate DiCamillo
My goal is two pages a day, five days a week. I never want to write, but I'm always glad that I have done it. After I write, I go to work at the bookstore. Kate DiCamillo
I work full-time in a used bookstore. I get up. I drink a cup of coffee. I think, The last thing I want to do is write. Then I go to the computer and write. Kate DiCamillo
Everything I write comes from my childhood in one way or another. I am forever drawing on the sense of mystery and wonder and possibility that pervaded that time of my life. Kate DiCamillo
I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in Minneapolis. I write for both children and adults. Kate DiCamillo
I am busier now than I ever imagined I would be, but I feel blessed in that I have found what I am supposed to be doing with my life. It's wonderful to tell stories and have people listen to them. Kate DiCamillo
My father leaving the family shaped who I was and how I looked at the world. By the same token, my father telling me fairy tales that he had made up shaped me profoundly, too. Kate DiCamillo