No one more cynical than an idealist.

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.

Educate a boy, and you educate an individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community.

I am living in a nightmare, from which from time to time I wake in sleep.

Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.

You hear about these shows where there are all these women are supposedly always in a catfight, and then you find out in reality that they're all getting along fine.

Follow your heart, Ithilnin," Albirich repeated. "Time is precious. Don't waste it living someone else's life.

If I'm compared to Babe Ruth or Willie Mays, that's great. But I'm just going to go out there and be myself.

For a love to grow through the test of everyday living, one must respect that zone of privacy where one retires to relate to the inside instead of the outside.

Things unhoped for happen oftener than things we desire.

I was asked on a radio interview what my mission is, and I immediately blurted out, "God realization."

I don't think it's a black and white issue. If a man's family is starving so to speak, I don't think I'll hold it against him for stealing a loaf of bread.