Yet [Georgia O'Keeffe ] always stayed true to her vision, and was at times uncompromising in following the path she saw for herself.

I knew the basic outline of the novel [The Dissemblers] and would write whatever scene of the book I felt particularly excited about at the time.

I lived in New Mexico until I was seventeen, and honestly I've been homesick ever since I left.

I do think that it is one of the eternal questions about art, though - is all art intrinsically selfish?

Does art play a role in the greater good of society, or does it just promote the satisfaction of the artist? I go back and forth on that question.

The motivation to paint seems more pure, or at least more personal, when the artist is doing it for herself.

I've spent many a day worrying that I will never be able to write again!

I am a tragically bad artist.

I did take one drawing class in school, but for this book I spent a lot of time talking to painters and asking them silly questions.

I read letters and journal entries by [Georgia] O'Keeffe (which were infinitely more useful than any critical analysis of her work).

The book [The Dissemblers] officially came out two weeks after my thirtieth birthday...am I still young?

There is no greater power and support you can give someone than to look them in the eye, and with sincerity/conviction say, 'I believe in you.

Our thoughts are just a story our mind tell us.

Freedom bestows on us the priceless gift of opportunity - if we neglect our opportunities we shall certainly lose our freedom.

The Typical American? He is sent to school Little or much, where he imbibes the rule Of safety first and comfort; in his youth He joins the church and ends the quest of truth.

Children must be educated by love, not punishment.

Just as a flower which seems beautiful and has color but no perfume, so are the fruitless words of the man who speaks them but does them not.

Until we become the architects of a society that is truly free and ecological, it will always seem that when the human brain is not adaptive, it is more often destructive than creative.

All of our days are numbered. We cannot afford to be idle. To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of an idea never becomes apparent until you do it.

The advice of friends must be received with a judicious reserve; we must not give ourselves up to it and follow it blindly, whether right or wrong.

Too long, that some may rest, tired millions toil unblest.