I just want to be told a story, and I want to believe I'm living that story, and I don't give a thought to influences or method or any other writerly concerns

Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!

I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.

It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him.

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.

Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

When a man or woman is born again by the Spirit of God they will give evidence of it in part by striving to live a holy life.

As an artist, you have a path that you're on that evolves with the kinds of stories you want to tell.

The problem with being British... I don't know if it's me being British or being raised a strict Catholic, but you never really enjoy success.

Foreign nations have begun to include information warfare in their war college curricula with respect to both defensive and offensive applications.

Without being in constant exchange with the rest of the cosmos, you cannot exist. The idea of individuality is an illusion.

People have laughed at all great inventors and discoverers.

I've heard from quite a few people, you sense that there is an ownership of the [ Cinderella], it was so personal for so many people, so I was interested in trying to work out why that was.

Hate will keep you alive where love fails

The single most powerful tool for winning a negotiation is the ability to get up and walk away from the table without a deal

There is a phenomenal amount of pressure on women in this industry: they are considered vintage by the time they hit their mid-30s.