This archaic idea - that a woman who is unmarried and childless at 30 is somehow unnatural - will probably always exist, and, like most social standards, it is ridiculous.

It's funny how something so normal and mundane that you see every day-your body-can be controversial. The shock value is intense. It's like carrying an art piece around with you all the time.

Even if you're only wearing trainers and a vest, eyeliner will instantly transform you. People always look put-together when their make-up's on and their eyes are popping - just ask Amy Winehouse!

Even talking, I'm super-loud. I could never have that kind of meek, little wispy whimsical lavender and lace voice. It comes from my body. There's no way I can fight it.

All this fashion stuff - who's cool now - is just a bigger version of the cool kids versus the nerds.

I'm a great believer in karma and the vengeance that it serves up to those who are deliberately mean is generally enough for me.

I'm passionate about color. My best friend and I sit and look at Pantone books for fun.

I'm not sure that I am able to feel embarrassment.

I've belched a lot more since I had gall bladder surgery. I don't know why.

I'm naturally a mousy blonde, so I dye my hair, and my eyebrows would disappear if I didn't get through at least a pencil a month.

I'm shameless, and I love a pun. There's a lot of Beth puns.

You know your heart and soul are stapled to that manuscript, but what we see are the words on the paper

Don’t react to any fuming argument.

Thinking is different from perceiving and is held to be in part imagination, in part judgment

Reading and sauntering and lounging and dosing, which I call thinking, is my supreme Happiness.

Thank Heaven! The crisis /The danger is past, and the lingering illness, is over at last /, and the fever called ''Living'' is conquered at last.

If you don't ask me questions, I can't give you an untrue answer.

The moment you say 'I know everything' is the end of your growth.

A modern economy and society requires skilled people, so you need to train them.

By confronting us with irreducible mysteries that stretch our daily vision to include infinity, nature opens an inviting and guiding path toward a spiritual life.

Working within the limitations of the shared world generally made the writing easier, because I didn't have to invent any of the characters or background, which is usually the hardest part.