The gloom encroaches upon my mind, and my heart flutters like a bird held fast in a fist.

Cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness.

A bubble of fear passes up my spine. It's the feeling of standing on ice and suddenly hearing it crack under your weight - both thrilling and terrifying together.

To know what a person has done, and to know who a person is, are very different things.

If I believed everything everyone had ever told me about my family I'd be a sight more miserable than I am now

The treachery of a friend is worse than that of a foe.

As though prayer could simply pluck sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place; the only way to smooth a mistake is to let it all unravel.

I don't want to be remembered, I want to be here!

I preferred to read than talk with the others.

So lonely I make friends with the ravens that prey on lambs.

No doves come from ravens’ eggs

I've been in some beautiful places, but the prettiest sight is flying back to New Orleans. Being able to look down and say, 'I know where I am now.'

When the New York Times revealed the warrantless surveillance of voice calls, in December 2005, the telephone companies got nervous.

I'm more aware of time. The element of time.

Creativity is the marriage humanity makes with eternity.

It was in my heart to help a little because I was helped much.

Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.

When a young artist is ready, one has to bring him into the limelight.

Conquer fear..make a decision.

Yes, there were times when I forgot not only who I was but that I was, forgot to be.

My ma says a rock lasts forever, but people don’t, and that’s what makes them more precious.