Desperation, weakness, vulnerability - these things will always be exploited. You need to protect the weak, ring-fence them, with something far stronger than empathy.

You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue.

The past is always tense, the future perfect.

Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.

Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.

Time is how you spend your love.

I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.

Don't confuse honours with achievement.

Pulchritude--beauty where you would least suspect it, hidden in a word that looked like it should signify a belch or a skin infection.

WE MUST ENJOY THE PRESENT, EVERYDAY THERE IS SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING THAT WE CAN BE GRATEFUL FOR.

Freedom necessarily means that many things will be done which we do not like.

That's enough, and I have a ministry as a neighbor as well. A ministry as a friend and a ministry as an aunt and a godmother, and family is very much in the circle of my vocation.

We will never have peace without friendship around the world.

In my life, the stories I have heard from my family, my friends, my community, and from willing strangers all over the world have been the true source of my education.

A well-behaved woman seldom makes history

To expect the government to save you is to be a bystander in your own fate.

The planet will survive. Whether we get to be here and enjoy it, or enjoy life as we've known it, is what's questionable.

Silent strength is the quality of all good men and most mummies.

I am inspired to design experiences that people actually need and love to use.