He never said "Don't tell your mama." He never had to say it. I did not know how to tell anyone what I felt, what scared me and shamed me... (109)

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.

No knowledge comes from the outside world or an imaginary supernatural paradise.

Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose for this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down but the staying down.

I don't care who anybody sleeps with.

If I had done everything I was supposed to, I'd be leading the league in homers, have the highest batting average, have given $100,000 to the Cancer Fund and be married to Marie Osmond.

I've been blessed to be one of those guys who's looked at as a fashion-forward type of guy.

First be a magnificent artist and then you can do whatever, but the art must be first.

Abstract propositions should never be discussed by a legislative body.

I like to keep some coloring tools around to draw vistas.

There's something people find hilarious about dogs surfing and dancing and talking in the movies. I think it's nice for people - I think it's wish fulfillment - to see animals talking.

When I have to play the same role every day, I have the flexibility to play the character in so many different ways. It's almost like playing five different roles.