It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.

There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.

I see a resurgence of interest in poetry. I am less optimistic about the prospects for the arts when it comes to federal funding.

All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, This is when I became myself.

A good poem is like a bouillon cube. It's concentrated and it nourishes you when you need it.

Courage has nothing to do with our determination to be great. It has to do with what we decide in that moment when we are called upon to be more.

Being true to yourself really means being true to all the complexities of the human spirit.

We should always do something that makes us feel like a child again. Keep learning, no matter what it is.

The library is an arena of possibility, opening both a window into the soul and a door onto the world.

I've always been intrigued by the way history works, the way we decide what is mentioned.

Sometimes a word is found so right it trembles at the slightest explanation.

Hearing nuns' confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.

For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over again.

If I could sum it up in 50 words, I wouldn't have needed to write a whole novel about it.

Around me I saw women overworked and underpaid, doing men's work at half men's wages, not because their work was inferior, but because they were women.

Marriage is an exercise in torture.

WITCH, n. (1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with the devil. (2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a league beyond the devil.

All that I've played, all that I've sung, I couldn't have done any other way.

Of course I know who you are. You're my girl. I love you.

We say very little, for we do not need to. We are silent together, each in her own world, knowing the other is just at her back.

Those whose purpose does not match yours are not wrong; they have their mission, and finding their own purposeful way may involve many detours and acts that seem destructive.