I never know where I am going, though. That is part of what makes it so wonderful. And after all, who does?

Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?

The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that is cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit.

She looked, and a scarlet butterfly flew away from her, away down the length of the tower, and then another, another, an unraveling scarf of butterflies like winged blood.

Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable.

We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests.

The soul is a magician. Only living flesh hampers it.

When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it.

I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.

No one is ever ordinary.

Maidens who stay maidens turn into saints. Old women become sorceresses. Tough jobs, both of these.

Give love, take pride

I look upon fine phrases as a lover. - John Keats

When you believe marriage is your answer, you'll often give something that eventually hurts you both.

Toxemia. A word that starts so harsh and ends so gently.

I am a writer who has written about the life of my people, the character of my people. What I can say is that the greatest hero of the Brazilian novel is the Brazilian people.

The obstacles are great and the suffering is great and people have got to make a living.

If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done.

When they come here, the English make a choice: New York or L.A. L.A. suited me better, I just feel comfortable here.

There is zero, and there is eternity, and there is mortality, but there is no ultimate.

In spite of really intense competition for the job, I'm still my own worst enemy.