I just like doing it, I like writing.

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.

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!

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.

We are all dying one by one. We all smell of mortality, and we can't wash it off.

Unfortunately, religion, like patriotism, is easy to misuse for political purposes.

I live near San Francisco in the most beautiful spot on earth and enjoy myself in many ways. Yes, I love to work, which for now is to think and read and write, so it's all a dream come true.

Rely on the ordinary virtues that intelligent, balanced human beings have relied on for centuries: common sense, thrift, realistic expectations, patience, and perseverance.

Planning is really the hallmark of any large military formation, and it's typically a weakness in new formations and new armies.

I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card.

Simplicity is the pursuit of the essential.

Conservation must become before recreation.

I couldn't stop looking at the award when I received it. It was as if my whole career flashed in front of me, from beginning to the moment I was handed the Golden Globe.

You never know what's going on in somebody's mind. There's a lot of pressure on someone growing up. You have to watch it.