And while it is true that I got the best woman in the world, I don't think love saves you.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that if we are not beautiful to each other, we cannot know beauty in any form.

Change, when it comes, cracks everything open.

Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.

Fiction is a piece of truth that turns lies to meaning.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is the way you can both hate and love something you are not sure you understand.

I did not begin with craft, I began with strong feelings and worked toward craft.

Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside.

One of the strengths I derive from my class background is that I am accustomed to contempt.

The only magic we have is what we make in ourselves, the muscles we build up on the inside, the sense of belief we create from nothing.

I have wanted everything as a writer and a woman, but most of all a world changed utterly by my revelations.

When I wake up every morning, I smile and say, 'Thank you.' Because out of my window I can see the mountains, then go hiking with my dog and share her bounding joy in the world.

We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.

I am thankful for our democracy, liberty, and prosperity, and that so many Americans have dedicated their lives to improving our country and our world.

Our task is to look at the world, and see it whole.

I do not rebel against my God, I simply do not accept his world.

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.

I'd like to do a tour with a bunch of people where it's just them and their guitars. It would be like Lilith Fair - only everyone plays alone, and it would be competitive.

Some people reflect light, some deflect it, you by some miracle, seem to collect it.

A dispassionate white sun shone at the summit of the sky. I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife.