Tales of heroes end in bliss.

Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?

The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that is cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit.

She looked, and a scarlet butterfly flew away from her, away down the length of the tower, and then another, another, an unraveling scarf of butterflies like winged blood.

Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable.

We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests.

The soul is a magician. Only living flesh hampers it.

When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it.

I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.

No one is ever ordinary.

Maidens who stay maidens turn into saints. Old women become sorceresses. Tough jobs, both of these.

Your decisions will determine your destination. “No decision” is the decision to be just how you were at where you had been.

Forget the Past. Doubt the Future. Love the Present.

We all have the greatest potential. Life is about finding it, embracing it and then learning to be with it in the world without fear of prejudice or judgment.

Political dictatorship and social hopelessness create the desperation that fuels religious extremism.

A little bit is not that much to ask to make things right.

For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it.

When I write, I try to represent the ordinary person in the pew, which means that, ironically, I'm qualified to write about prayer by being unqualified!

When I go abroad I always sail from Boston because it is such a pleasant place to get away from.

You'd never last in South America. Fans take their radios to the stadium so they can think what the commentators think.

I know him...of course.