Words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted.

Like most-maybe all- writers, I learned to write by writing and, by example, by reading books.

All the elements of good writing depend on the writer's skill in choosing one word instead of another.

Reading was like eating alone, with that same element of bingeing.

When we humans speak, we are not merely communicating information but attempting to make an impression and achieve a goal.

What I love is how pissed off Jane Eyre is. She's in a rage for the whole novel and the payoff is she gets to marry this blind guy who's toasted his wife in the attic." -Angela Argo "Blue Angel

A lot of girls who turn into something remarkable start off as irrepressible, confident and a handful.

Like seeing a photograph of yourself as a child, encountering handwriting that you know was once yours but that now seems only dimly familiar can inspire a confrontation with the mystery of time.

We never believe we're beautiful, no matter how many times we hear it. We never believe it until someone says it in the right way.

I’ve always found that the better the book I’m reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter.

I know a lot of Eastern Europeans, and because of what they have been through and what they have seen, they have an attitude where they are not easily fooled.

We owe it to the dead to dance on their graves.

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

There was a whole language that I could never make function for myself in relationship to painting and that was attitudes like tortured, struggle, pain.

Imagination does not stir at the suggestion of the feeble, much diluted stuff that is too often put into children’s hands.

I believe in blues, and I believe that it's been misrepresented.

The secret to finding your passion is to bring it to everything you do. --Marie Forleo (Yes, even doing the laundry!)

The perfect aphorism would achieve classical balance and then immediately upset it.

If you're going to do a thing, you should do it thoroughly. If you're going to be a Christian, you may as well be a Catholic.

Trust doesn't develop from always doing the right thing. Trust comes from taking responsibility when we do the wrong thing.