"I wrote 'Sophie's World' in three months, but I was only writing and sleeping. I work for 14 hours a day when I'm working on a book."

"Where did the world come from? The question has an answer, even though I cannot get to it. It is a good question. It is like a crime that has not been solved. There is an answer, even if police do not know it."

"I think about my editor when I write. She's a good friend, too."

"To wonder about life is not something we learn; it is something we forget."

"What we need to do is really improve energy efficiency standards, develop in full scale renewable and alternative energy and use the one resource we have in abundance, our creativity."

"We do not remember the passing of hours, but the resonance of moments. A lesson woven into the fabric of human history — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"I used to hang out by the food table at parties because you don't have to talk to anybody. If you do then you can talk about the food."

"I learned what I need to do in the long jump, what I needed to do in the javelin and I've been able to rectify those events. It's been a bit of a learning curve, which is good."