The Right Words at the Right Time

For everyone who needs a hero or loves a good story, here is an inspiring collection of personal revelations from more than 100 remarkable men and women who share a moment when words changed their lives.

Award-winning actress and bestselling author Marlo Thomas is joined by such luminaries as Muhammad Ali, Tom Brokaw, Cal Ripken Jr., Steven Spielberg, Venus Williams, Rudy Giuliani, Toni Morrison, Jack Nicholson, Mel Brooks, Laura Bush, Billy Crystal, Tom Wolfe and Katie Couric, who each tell a story of a crucial turning point in their lives brought about by the right words at the right time. These first-person accounts of challenges and victories can provide guidance to all of us as we come to life's crossroads.

Al Pacino and Gwyneth Paltrow were instructed by words they heard during a crisis. Billy Crystal and Chris Rock used their humor to guide them. Ruth Bader Ginsburg received advice from her mother-in-law on her wedding day that continues to help her on the Supreme Court. These original stories encompass life's struggles and adventures and demonstrate how people we admire found hope and inspiration through words delivered by family or friends, heard in a movie or play, sung on the radio, told in a joke or even drawn in a cartoon.

The Right Words at the Right Time gathers the wit and wisdom of more than 100 innovators, thinkers and cultural icons and puts them into one collectible book.

From big cities to farm communities, from office cubicles to hospital wards, from Normandy Beach to Boston's Fenway Park, the contributors to this remarkable volume — selected from among thousands in a nationwide search --- tell riveting stories about the words that changed their lives forever.

For those of us in need of hope, a hero, or a healthy dose of inspiration, here is a heartwarming collection of personal revelations from some of today's greatest luminaries whose lives were changed by hearing the right words at the right time.

Marlo Thomas and Friends have contributed their stories and all royalties from The Right Words at the Right Time to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded by Ms. Thomas's father, Danny Thomas, in 1962.

Marlo Thomas graduated from the University of Southern California with a teaching degree. She is the author of two bestselling books, Free to Be...You and Me and Free to Be...a Family. Ms. Thomas has won four Emmys,® the Peabody Award and has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame for her work in television, including the long-running hit series That Girl, which she conceived, produced, and starred in. She serves on the Professional Advisory Board and as the National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Ms. Thomas lives in New York with her husband, Phil Donahue.

Contents

Muhammad Ali

Christiane Amanpour

Stephen Ambrose

Jennifer Aniston

Lance Armstrong

Candice Bergen

Jeff Bezos

David Boies

Tom Brokaw

Mel Brooks

Barbara Bush

Laura Bush

President Jimmy Carter

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Chuck Close

Kenneth Cole

Bill Cosby

Katie Couric

Cindy Crawford

Walter Cronkite

Cameron Crowe

Billy Crystal

Ellen DeGeneres

Barry Diller

Dr. Peter Doherty

Phil Donahue

Michael Eisner

Daniel Ellsberg

Betty Ford

Diane von Furstenberg

Frank Gehry

Richard Gephardt

The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Rudolph Giuliani

Whoopi Goldberg

William Goldman

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Matt Groening

Uta Hagen

Scott Hamilton

Mia Hamm

Dr. David Ho

Arianna Huffington

James Jeffords

Philip Johnson

Robert Johnson

Quincy Jones

Andrea Jung

David E. Kelley

Billie Jean King

Ted Koppel

Ralph Lauren

Ang Lee

John Leguizamo

Jay Leno

Maya Lin

David Mamet

Wilma Mankiller

Mary Matalin

Dave Matthews

John McCain

Paul McCartney

Dennis Miller

Toni Morrison

Ralph Nader

Willie Nelson

Paul Newman

Mike Nichols

Jack Nicholson

Conan O'Brien

Rosie O'Donnell

Shaquille O'Neal

Al Pacino

Gwyneth Paltrow

Sarah Jessica Parker

Sean Penn

Itzhak Perlman

Bob Pittman

Sidney Poitier

Vladimir Pozner

Anna Quindlen

Dr. Sally Ride

Cal Ripken Jr.

Dennis Rivera

Chris Rock

Ray Romano

Carlos Santana

Diane Sawyer

Martin Sheen

Dr. Ruth Simmons

Carly Simon

Sammy Sosa

Steven Spielberg

George Steinbrenner

Gloria Steinem

Martha Stewart

Amy Tan

Julie Taymor

Twyla Tharp

Ted Turner

Mike Wallace

Barbara Walters

Vera Wang

Wendy Wasserstein

Maxine Waters

Venus Williams

Oprah Winfrey

Tom Wolfe

A Letter from the Dalai Lama