Never be afraid of a cliché, if it expresses what you wish to say.

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.

I've tried to maintain my independence in Congress. Sometimes that has meant opposing my own party leaders.

He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby.

I enjoy what I do. I think it shows.

A state may launch a pre-emptive strike if it has very good reason for thinking that another state is preparing for war.

Modesty and conscientiousness receive their reward only in novels. In life they are exploited and then shoved aside.

The American people...have a stake in non-conformity. For they know that the American genius is non-conformist.

Writing is a refuge from unhappiness, but has its own sorrows.

If i write a book it will probably be a book about how not to use the internet or a book of poetry.

I have three kinds of friends: those who love me, those who pay no attention to me, and those who detest me.

When you are insane, you are busy being insane-all the time ... when I was crazy, that was all I was.