I've always felt like my nose is pressed to glass. I always feel a little bit like an outsider.

I try to remember that the job - as well as the plight, and the unexpected joy - of the artist is to embrace uncertainty, to be sharpened and honed by it.

It is in the thousands of days of trying, failing, sitting, thinking, resisting, dreaming, raveling, unraveling that we are at our most engaged, alert, and alive.

Writing has been my window-flung wide open to this magnificent, chaotic existence-my way of interpreting everything within my grasp.

Everything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write

If I dismiss the ordinary—waiting for the special, the extreme, the extraordinary to happen - I may just miss my life.

I do whatever is necessary in order to maintain the equanimity we all need to withstand the disappointment and rejection that are the lot of every writer, no matter where we are in our careers.

The only graceful thing to do is recognize and embrace what is actually happening, rather than fight against it.

My desk is covered with talismans: pieces of rose quartz, wishing stones from a favorite beach.

How do we live the writer's life? There's only one simple answer: 'we write.'

If you are a writer or any kind of artist, if you change something as fundamental as where you live - the way you live - then I think you change the very instrument that is trying to make the art

It's all about the people. It's all for the people. It's all to the people. That's our ultimate goal.

Why am I the only one who thinks she’s messing with us? - Egg

The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would burn still clearer, and I might go far.

Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let's continue to move forward.

I’ve always said that you can live without water for many days, but you can’t live for a second without hope.

Those who have money think that the most important thing in the world is love. The poor know it is money.

I've swum for my country, I've swum for my coaches and my schools and my teams. I decided this time I was going to swim for myself.

Letters are the real curse of my existence. I hate to write them: I have to. If I don't, there they are - the great guilty gates barring my way.

I'm always looking for sounds that are pleasing at the time. The sound of a helicopter is really annoying until you're drowning, and it's there to rescue you. Then it sounds like music.

Raising of money may indeed change the species, but with so much loss as the foreign pieces were raised unto, above their intrinsick value.