I remember yoursaying: "make itor break it."neither happened anditwon't.

Now something so sad has hold of us that the breath leaves and we can't even cry.

yes, Wagner and the storm intermix with the wine as nights like this run up my wrists and up into my head and back down into the gut

having nothing to struggleagainstthey have nothing to strugglefor.

the gods play nofavorites.

the gods seldomgivebut so quicklytake.

she slammed the door andwas gone.I looked at the closed doorand at the doorknoband strangelyI didn't feelalone.

the worst thing, " he told me, "is bitterness, people end up sobitter.

I see a brightportionunder the overhead lightthat shades intodarknessand then into darkerdarknessand I can't see beyond that.

I believe that to be the world's greatest livingwriterthere must be somethingterribly wrong with you.I don't even want to be the world's greatestdead writer.just being dead would be fairenough.

I paid, got up, walkedto the door, openedit.I heard the mansay, "that guy'snuts."out on the street Iwalked northfeelingcuriouslyhonored.

Education opens the door for an extraordinary life.

Dennis was present, still present, and this, she thought as she stayed landed against him, was no small talent.

I'm tired of having to consult a group of old white guys about my black girl craft. They don't even know what they're listening for or to.

When you are in the valley, keep your goal firmly in view and you will get the renewed energy to continue the climb.

In Necessary Marriage, I tried to repeat entire phrases without the reader noticing. My work doesn't have the rigor of music, but I hope it alludes to it.

I am going to work with Tom Daschle. And I'll work with the Republican leaders and the president to try and come up with something that we can all be proud of.

So if there is a purpose to the suffering that is cancer, I think it must be this: it's meant to improve us.

A woman's best love letters are always written to the man she is betraying.

My dad did teach me a very important lesson about people when he explained to me that everybody around you will have an invisible sign on their head, which says, "Make me feel important."

Fundamentalist Christianity appeals to pre-civilized, prudish tribal people who are not ready for urban feudal pleasures.