I do not know the word 'quit.' Either I never did, or I have abolished it.

I was very aware that I was a woman and that the Iditarod was a big thing for women, but I didn't want to be given any special treatment. I just wanted to be viewed as a musher.

I care for my dogs as if my life depended on them. And oftentimes it does.

Dogs have a lot to communicate to a person willing to listen.

A friend of mine said, 'Leukemia hasn't met Susan Butcher yet,' and I agree with her. It's going to have to fight awful hard if it wants to take me.

I do not know the word 'quit'. Either I never did, or I have abolished it.

love an invisible force that makes you realize that reality is better than fantasy.

Every science fiction is a reading of the period that produced it.

I do think that art that doesn't communicate is useless.

Let it not be said that I have said nothing new. The arrangement of the material is new.

No matter how hidden the cruelty, no matter how far off the screams of pain and terror, we live in one world. We are one people.

Yes, I can play younger than my age. But I can play characters older than I am, too. I'm not an actor who can just play the kid.

How do you say goodbye to someone who isn't exactly gone.

No matter what feeling comes up - numbness, irritability, shame - if I let it arise and play itself through, I naturally open into wakefulness and care.

I think what makes us human is our interconnectedness among people. It's our ability to form and maintain relationships. It's the barometer by which we call ourselves human.

And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?