I had to make water ” I said. It was the classic female excuse and no male in recorded history had ever questioned it.

Trust me." The words are a prayer, not a warranty. I understand that now.

Pip wondered what the secret was of being different in a way that attracted people, as opposed to her own way.

There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all of us have felt deeply.

My faith experience, well, as you can imagine, you need a lot of faith to raise five boys.

I refer to calls for humanitarian intervention in the affairs of another state - a new idea, this - even when they are made under the pretext of defending human rights and freedoms.

If you listen too much to advice, you may wind up making other people's mistakes.

My own idea is that these things are as piffle before the wind.

I have an active imagination, and music opens the floodgates of that area of my brain.

Nobody wins until we all do.

Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.