I heard a white writer say, 'Oh, I'd never put black people in my writing, I'm afraid I would offend someone by doing it wrong.' I can't bear that!

I think people feel for a long time that they ought to know how to write a novel in two drafts.

Whoever would write books? It's suffering as well as greatly satisfying. And certainly there's suffering in the sense that you don't know for a long time how to do it.

We still have so many cultures in which people are imprisoned and whipped and killed for writing what they think.

In many cultures, women are sometimes literally kept from learning to read or from going to school.

There's the belief that we can't be smart enough to write. And certainly censorship of women, too.

You have to write fiction that mirrors the actual world, which has people of all sorts in it.

There is a lot of censorship about writing that's exerted from all directions, from families or governments and society, even the fear of being offensive in some way.

Little children are all writers.

I love it when people can help me with my work, so I do show it.

I get to a certain point, and I think in a novel it's about the third draft, when I want other eyes on it.

Thinking is hard work, which is why you don't see many people doing it.

Forgive me for being the stupidest man on the planet?”“Careful. You’re talking about the man I love.

Without a sense of urgency, people ... won't make needed sacrafices. Instead they cling to the status quo and resist.' - Quoting John Kotter

The courage to dream, the courage to act.

I may like to be on my own, but I like being alive.

Remember, if you're heading in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns!

To find a prince, you gotta kiss some toads.

I started playing heavy-metal guitar because that's what I liked. And then I got into classical guitar because it was so technically complicated.

Time is but the shadow of the world upon the background of Eternity.

If I can't serve as a role model, let me serve as a warning.