Here among my books, my wife, my friends and my loves, I have plenty of reasons to keep living.

Don't classify me, read me. I'm a writer, not a genre.

Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.

Writing is a struggle against silence.

The United States has written the white history of the United States. It now needs to write the black, Latino, Indian, Asian and Caribbean history of the United States.

Art gives life to what history killed. Art gives voice to what history denied, silenced, or persecuted. Art brings truth to the lies of history.

I need, therefore I imagine.

One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.

What's happened at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is one of the grossest violations of human rights under the Geneva Conventions that we have record of. It is simply monstrous.

Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.

You start by writing to live. You end by writing so as not to die.

100% commitment is required for any great achievement.

Preparation for tomorrow is hard work today.

For there is in mankind an unfortunate propensity to make themselves, their views and their works, the measure of excellence in every thing whatsoever

Think naught a trifle, though it small appear; Small stands the mountain, moments make the year, and trifles life.

If Fang is in any way harmed while I'm gone-if he gets a hangnail-you won't see another morning. Are we clear on that?

I'll never go against my morals.

I tried softball and soccer. I just didn't take as much of a liking to it as I did sitting in a movie theater and watching people recreate a story, and doing it myself, as well.

Beauty is an internal light, a spiritual radiance that all women have, but most women hide - unconsciously denying its existence. What we do not claim, remains invisible.

Fear of failure leads to failure.

It is one of the most culpable oversights of nature that virtue and beauty so often come in separate packages.