My grandmother could never have written a memoir, so 'The Gravedigger's Daughter' is a homage to her life, and to the lives of other young women of her generation, which are so rarely articulated.

Memory blurs, that's the point. If memory didn't blur you wouldn't have the fool's courage to do things again, again, again, that tear you apart.

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.

I never change, I simply become more myself.

How lovely this world is, really: one simply has to look.

Our enemy is by tradition our savior, in preventing us from superficiality.

Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.

Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light.

Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.

See, people come into your life for a reason. They might not know it themselves, why. You might not know it. But there's a reason. There has to be

Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!

When you pray, your spirit begins to work and He will speak through your mind

Loneliness is a shadow of death

A challenging economy is always good for design. It unites necessity and functionality. You are forced to be creative with poor materials.

We know what we need to do. Let's re-elect President Obama!

Laugh because that is the purest sound.

The rate of inflation can't be judged accurately by a few items the government arbitrarily chooses to measure.

A lot of acting requires you to be a charming version of yourself.

If you're going to equalize the academic playing field, you've got to get the kids in early childhood programs.

I'm the kind of person who does not remember bad things.

I always say, don't be a Christian, be Christ-like. Don't be a Muslim, be Mohammed-like. Be Buddha-like. Emulate these great spiritual Masters and what they were teaching.