It was the forest’s fault. Those two handsome woodcutters. An evil place, the forest, everyone knew it, full of temptations and imps...

Writing is writing, and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and nonfiction. And even there, who can be sure?

The bitterness of joy lies in the knowledge that is cannot last. Nor should joy last beyond a certain season, for, after that season, even joy would become merely habit.

She looked, and a scarlet butterfly flew away from her, away down the length of the tower, and then another, another, an unraveling scarf of butterflies like winged blood.

Archetypes are universal, and, in subtle or extravagant ways, interchangeable.

We need the expressive arts, the ancient scribes, the storytellers, the priests.

The soul is a magician. Only living flesh hampers it.

When I am fascinated by something, I like to play with it.

I submitted manuscripts to publishers. This was not so much a feeling that I should be published as a wish to escape the feared and hated drudgery of normal work.

No one is ever ordinary.

Maidens who stay maidens turn into saints. Old women become sorceresses. Tough jobs, both of these.

What's done is done. What's gone is gone. One of life's lessons is always moving on. It’s okay to look back to see how far you’ve come but keep moving forward.

No one believes a liar. Even when she's telling the truth.

They say our suffering is an inevitable part of the human condition

I've learned that I shouldn't shrink from success. Though honestly I thought they'd be knocking on my door years ago.

I never feel as though I'm ever, ever alone.

Somebody figured it out- we have 35 million laws trying to enforce Ten Commandments.

... Their power to see environments as they really are.

Extreme liberalism is not a political philosophy. It is a mental disorder.

Even the busboys at the restaurants have a script to give you. Everybody is in the business.

Thou shalt not let a day pass without rereading something great.