I used to think about how I was conceived quite a lot when I was about 10 or 11, but I don't think about it at all now that so many other babies have been born in the same way.

The young women in my classes are feisty and clever and believe, often with the passion of youthful optimism, that feminism is a battle already won. I worry for them - and for my daughters, too.

I'm working on a nonfiction book on Nepal and a novel about diasporas.

The richest most meaningful stories are found in small places: made, carried, crafted, told, and retold by apparently unimportant people.

Sometimes I like to play the soundtracks to famous musicals so we can all sing along. South Pacific is one of my favorites. Our neighbors must hate us.

If you can't return a favor, pass it on.

Never give up. And most importantly, be true to yourself. Write from your heart, in your own voice, and about what you believe in.

I can't pick out one single book that had such a profound personal impact.

It took a brave editor in the U.S. to sign a contract for Dancing Girls, and without her belief in the book, I'm not sure it would ever have found its way into print.

Don't call 'em dogs. Dogs are loyal and they run after balls.

I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long.

Have you ever tried thinking of God as a person instead of an all-powerful vending machine that never gives you the right amount of change? He has feelings too, you know.

When the magical lights of love touch your heart and soul, you and your world become magical.

If you want to be successful in any area of life, you have to work on developing your soul.

I know the Bible is inspired because it inspires me.

This morning, for the first time in a long time, the joy again of imagining a knife twisted in my heart.

All beasts of prey are strong or treacherous.

Every event in this world is the effect of some precedent cause, and also the cause of some subsequent effect.

War begets war. It produces outraged and humiliated and furious people. That is almost invariably the case.

Often times I have hated in self-defense; if I were stronger I would not have used such a weapon.

If everyone smoked weed, the world would be a better place.