I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves.

I think people feel for a long time that they ought to know how to write a novel in two drafts.

Whoever would write books? It's suffering as well as greatly satisfying. And certainly there's suffering in the sense that you don't know for a long time how to do it.

We still have so many cultures in which people are imprisoned and whipped and killed for writing what they think.

In many cultures, women are sometimes literally kept from learning to read or from going to school.

There's the belief that we can't be smart enough to write. And certainly censorship of women, too.

You have to write fiction that mirrors the actual world, which has people of all sorts in it.

I heard a white writer say, 'Oh, I'd never put black people in my writing, I'm afraid I would offend someone by doing it wrong.' I can't bear that!

There is a lot of censorship about writing that's exerted from all directions, from families or governments and society, even the fear of being offensive in some way.

Little children are all writers.

I love it when people can help me with my work, so I do show it.

What liberated our souls, we live to serve.

I'm so happy to be an advocate for poetry.

Only in the last moment in history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.

To insure the continuity of philanthropy, we must instill in kids the values and attitudes that will enable them to see charity as a vital part of their lives.

We have a big appetite for putting people down but, at the heart of everyone, there's enough room for all of us to succeed.

Our human condition makes us tend to share only the best of ourselves, because we are always searching for love and approval

But there is something seductive and the character, Alfie is so charming, and does make you think like you are the most important thing in the world but he's not that nice, is he.

Banana Splits for Breakfast. I think I ate about five.

I didn't respond well to a firm hand and insults.

We believe as much as we can. We would believe everything if we could.