I suspect any serious reader has a first great book, just the way anybody has a first kiss.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.

She could have had a life as potent and dangerous as literature itself.

The secret of flight is this -- you have to do it immediately, before your body realizes it is defying the laws.

There is a beauty in the world, though it's harsher than we expect it to be.

we become the stories we tell ourselves

I was not ladylike, nor was I manly. I was something else altogether. There were so many different ways to be beautiful.

Language in fiction is made up of equal parts meaning and music. The sentences should have rhythm and cadence, they should engage and delight the inner ear.

One always has a better book in one's mind than one can manage to get onto paper.

Take me with you. I want a doomed love. I want streets at night, wind and rain, no one wondering where I am.

She is overtaken by a sensation of unbeing. There is no other word for it.

Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace.

This fire in me, it's not just the hunger of a woman for a man - it's the hunger of all my people back of me, from all ages, for light, for the life higher!

He is not likely to learn who is not willing to be taught; for the learner has something to do, as well as the teacher.

A bottle of wine was good company.

Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.

My advice to would-be young authors is to read a lot, write a lot, and not worry about creating a finished product. Keeping a journal is not a bad idea either.

I really think that being yourself, being original, being outside the box is starting to be appealing to people.

Meditation is the breath of your soul. Just as breathing is the life of the body, meditation is the life of the soul.

For a time I gave the appearance of defending Stalin. I didn't defend what he had done; the fact is, nobody could defend the things that Khrushchev revealed.

What you see is evidence of what you believe.