Any writer knows that what's left out is as essential, if not more so, than what's there. Unlearning works that way.

Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead.

Boring people don't know they're boring. That's the problem with boring people.

I'm trying always to leave out what I think is extraneous. And to find what I think is the most wonderful language to make a beautiful sentence.

I think it's true that unless human beings experience something, they simply don't understand what people are going through.

I'm the author of my own misery.

I don't think anybody says to Coetzee or Dostoyevsky or Kafka, "Your characters aren't likeable." It's not about your character winning a popularity contest. That's not the writer's job.

It's not the writer who determines how good she is anyway. Writers don't determine that. It's readers who determine that.

Do the obvious, you won't forget it. Do the obvious, you won't regret it. Obvious, obvious, obvious.

Nonfiction gives you subjects. Writing fiction I can have more fun, but I have to invent my subject.

Without curiosity a writer is dead.

A day without love is like a day without life.

Futurists and common sense concur that a substantial change, worldwide, in life-style and moral guidelines will soon become an absolute necessity.

The man who lives by himself and for himself is likely to be corrupted by the company he keeps.

Everyone has a set of presuppositions: what gender is, what it's not. And they may not write them out or they may not be in theoretical books published by Routledge, but they have a theory.

I always knew I had this voice, but it wasn't until I was in my 20s that I realized I had the power to do something with it.

They're my favorite two words these days: Oscar reject.

I saw the crown of France laying on the ground, so I picked it up with my sword.

Your wide eyes are the only light I know from extinguished constellations.

Early detection is key," she said. "And if I hadn't found my lump early, I don't know what would have been. I am still here and I want to encourage women to do that on a regular basis.

All the women in Pakistan working for change, don't give up on your dreams, this is for you.