Wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't try to write through it, to force it. Many do, but that won't work. Just wait, it will come.

I have only to break into the tightness of a strawberry, and I see summer - its dust and lowering skies.

If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.

The function of freedom is to free someone else.

Don’t beg anybody for anything, especially love.

There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race - scientifically, anthropologically. Racism is a construct, a social construct... it has a social function, racism.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.

All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.

Oppressive language does more than represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of knowledge; it limits knowledge.

Time is the wealth through which money comes.

I didn’t know when I grew up, but it happened like this: I was so very young, and then suddenly, I was old.

I carry my burdens to the Lord. He lightens my shoulders.

The past is fractal premonition, infinite to the eye but nothing to be built on . . .

An economist's definition of hatred is the willingness to pay a price to inflict harm on others.

Many a genius has been slow of growth. Oaks that flourish for a thousand years do not spring up into beauty like a reed.

When we have an item that has value to the school and the athletic department, we cannot throw it away just to be fair.

Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanics laughs at strength.

I really like directors who give you a certain amount of autonomy because I think a lot about my characters and I think a lot about scenes and choices.

I shouldn't precisely have chosen madness if there had been any choice, but once such a thing has taken hold of you, you can't very well get out of it.