People always talked about a mother's uncanny ability to read her children, but that was nothing compared to how children could read their mothers.

Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!

I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.

It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him.

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.

Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

You judge people in the context of their time, not in the context of ours.

Moving forward requires that one first take a step.

Marches alone won't bring integration when human respect is disintegratin

The motivation comes from the embarrassment of having lost and the way it sits with you.

Free yourself from happiness and unhappiness. Realize there is something beyond both and yet, revel in your time, revel in this world.

Learning another language is like becoming another person.

His smile brought back the best times, sweet memories of nights together... stirring up those old feelings that got me thinkin' bout forever.

When I was small, I would refuse to drink when I ate fish because I thought the fish would reconstitute itself in my stomach

In this scene, I'm talking about how much I don't like cookies.... I'm sayin', 'Listen, guys. Have you read the book? We're not supposed to be eating.'

I really think I am where I am in spite of my training, not because of it. I don't know how unique my work is, because I never compare it.