Ain't nothing more important than loving your mama. Even if you can't understand her. Love her. That's all you gotta do.

I do two things, " she told me. "I remind myself that it's not all about me. And I focus on the good. There's always a way to find some good.

Your life could only be lived by you.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.

People have been playing against me below their strength for fifteen years.

I've been down this road before and yeah I skidded but forget it

The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful.

I don't reread my books.

I'm hugely honored [with the Man Booker Prize].

People aren't wired to be alone. Even in the stressful population of prison, solitary confinement is still considered a cruel punishment.

The demand that women "return to femininity" is a demand that the cultural gears shift into reverse, that we back up to a fabled time when everyone was richer, younger, more powerful.

Audition is the worst thing. It's like cleaning furniture in a department store.