So my first book I had no experience having written a book, but each book is a little snapshot of who you are at that moment, accrued all through time, so I accept that.

For sometimes you can't help but crave some ruin in what you love.

It is 'where we are' that should make all the difference, whether we believe we belong there or not.

The truth, finally, is who can tell it.

As for what's the most challenging aspect of teaching, it's convincing younger writers of the importance of reading widely and passionately.

In this difficult era the most valuable commodity is the unfailing turn of the hours and how they retrieve for us the known harbor of yesterday.

They're not parallel at all. They're my concerns, but how they're expressed particularly on the page is completely divorced from who I am in my street life.

Don’t sanctuaries become prisons, and vice versa, foremost in the mind?

Imagination might not be limitless. It's still tethered to the universe of what we know.

For at some point, each of us will be asked to embody what we feel and know.

Most people dont think about race as much as I do. They dont have to.

Peace is a child's beautiful smile and a flower's freshnessPeace is an inner perception of joyfulness and happiness.

Honor is overrated.

So this was betrayal. It was like being left alone in the desert at dusk without water or warmth. It left your mouth dry and will broken. It sapped your tears and made you hollow.

The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.

It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the free institutions we enjoy, have developed the powers, and improved the condition, of our whole people, beyond any example in the world.

...love him enough to give him this, even if it's at the price of your pride." (Annette to Cat)

He is dead who called me into being, and when I shall be no more the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish.

I love art and fashion.

By being critical, you also develop your own style of what you like, what direction you want to move.

I don't think anyone can be more of a predator than a human being.