What's the best thing you can do for your writing? Construct a boring life.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is that if we are not beautiful to each other, we cannot know beauty in any form.

Change, when it comes, cracks everything open.

Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.

Fiction is a piece of truth that turns lies to meaning.

Two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is the way you can both hate and love something you are not sure you understand.

I did not begin with craft, I began with strong feelings and worked toward craft.

Class, race, sexuality, gender and all other categories by which we categorize and dismiss each other need to be excavated from the inside.

One of the strengths I derive from my class background is that I am accustomed to contempt.

The only magic we have is what we make in ourselves, the muscles we build up on the inside, the sense of belief we create from nothing.

I have wanted everything as a writer and a woman, but most of all a world changed utterly by my revelations.

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.

All this and Heaven too!

I believe God did intend, in giving us intelligence, to give us the opportunity to investigate and appreciate the wonders of His creation. He is not threatened by our scientific adventures.

There are skeptics who do not come to their view because they have a source of income from carbon polluters.

I have a younger brother.

I do the things I like to do. It's sort of a bigger version of having more than one hobby.

If you're afraid of something, face it. Fear is irrational. The only way to conquer your fear is to stand next to it.

I feel bad for young people. The 20s are a nightmare also. The 20s are hard to do.

Loving is the most unmitigated and courageous act I perform in a day.

I majored in political science, and my concentration was U.S. involvement in Latin America in the 20th century.