Reading any piece of writing aloud is an acid test, particularly when it comes to dialogue. There were writers I'd always admired who suddenly rang false when I spoke their words in our living room.

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.

The most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.

Every company, of course, teaches you so much humanly and professionally [about] yourself and your creative process.

But when you slice truth too thin, you deceive.

There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be.

I love fried okra. The fact that it's okra makes me feel like it's good for you - I forget the fact that it's fried.

I also surround myself with good people who keep me and bring the best out of me. I don't generally hang out with crazy people.

There can be no criminal intent in resisting injustice.

The thing I sort of get tired of hearing is if I don't hit home runs or don't get hits, that the pressure of the media is getting to me. Absolutely not. Believe me, it's not getting to me.

In science , all conclusions are provisional, subject to new evidence and better arguments, the very antithesis of religious faith.

Racism will disappear when it's no longer profitable, and no longer psychologically useful. And when that happens, it'll be gone. But at the moment, people make a lot of money off of it, pro and con.