I've always had individual friends, but I didn't find the people I wanted to learn from as an adult until my midtwenties.

One good thing about being a woman is we haven't too many examples yet of what a genius looks like. It could be me.

We don't know the effects we have on each other, but we have them.

We tried not to smile, for smiling only encourages men to bore you and waste your time.

There was not an awareness of pop culture in the household. There was a lot of respect for working hard, and for intellectual and professional achievement.

Maybe that's good to not feel like you have to keep up when there's so much to keep up with right now. It's bottomless.

There's so much writing I could have done and so many ideas that I had and so many things I wanted to work on that I didn't. I like too much having things in my head rather than doing the work.

To go on and on about your soul is to miss the whole point of life. I could say that with more certainty if I knew the whole point of life.

You have to know where the funny is, and if you know where the funny is, you know everything.

Writing fiction is a good way to inhabit other minds, if not other lives.

I do feel it. And I've felt it my whole life, that the supernatural has a role in the world.

Henry Luce to his Time magazine writers: "Tell the history of our time through the people who make it.

You must read to lead. Reading feeds. It opens our souls to a long line of counselors.

We don't believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

Make peace, you fools!

He turned out the light and went into Jem's room. He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

Your commander would never lie to you. That's the vice president's job.

I was raised in a truly typical Midwestern home with a lot of repression. My life, and the creation of Playboy, were a response to that repression.

How are you going to change the world? The answer is easy. By changing the world that exists in your head.

I never want to disappoint my parents, ever. They are people that I always look up to.

Laws that oppress people have no moral authority.