The writing process is not just putting down one page after another-it's a lot of writing and then rewriting, restructuring the story, changing the way things come together.

Trying to forget really doesn't work. In fact, it's pretty much the same as remembering. But I tried to forget anyway, and to ignore the fact that I was remembering you all the time.

Well, it's simple to love someone," she said. "But it's hard to know when you need to say it out loud.

Pajamas are good for the soul.

She's called the secretary, but as far as I can tell she basically runs the school.

Einstein says common sense is just habit of thought. It's how we're used to thinking about things, but a lot of the time it just gets in the way.

Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.

Life is really just a bunch of nows, one after the other.

I don't know. I just feel stuck, like I'm afraid to take any steps, in case they're the wrong ones.

Boredom is what happens to people who have no control over their minds.

But every person has to learn to accept what has happened in the past. Without bitterness. Or there is no point in continuing with life.

First opportunity is the golden opportunity.

Race prejudice is not only a shadow over the colored — it is a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on.

I wake up in the morning, walk downstairs, and just bang on the piano and write about what's going on in the world around me.

What can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. The Beatles. And me.

I love entertaining and doing Martha Stewart stuff.

A sort of hostile transaction, very necessary to keep the world going, but by no means a sinecure to the parties concerned.

In a successful painting everything is integral - all the parts belong to the whole. If you remove an aspect or element you are removing its wholeness.

Being able to motivate girls to reach for their dreams, and giving them someone positive to look up to.

What is important is using one's talent, intellect and energy in order to gain an appreciation and affection for people and place.

I've always tried to explore the humorous aspects of life.