You put a character out there and you're in their power. You're in trouble if they're in yours.

People forget years and remember moments.

When I was teaching at Harvard in the 1970s, I went to Project Incorporated in Cambridge and took photography classes. I didn't even know how to aim the camera in those days.

Because I don’t work with an outline, writing a story is like crossing a stream, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock, now I’m on this rock.

Clichés so often befall vain people.

I think almost always that what gets me going with a story is the atmosphere, the visual imagery, and then I people it with characters, not the other way around.

I don't write about things that I have the answers to or things that are very close to home. It just wouldn't be any adventure. It wouldn't have any vitality.

There is some reason, obviously, that you are drawn to your material, but the way in which you explore it might come to be quite different from what you would expect.

Nobody can assume that, to a writer, everything is off-limits.

I like a lot of Margaret Atwood, I like much of Alice Munro. Again, if you were to ask me about male writers, there's often a novel I admire, but not all of their works.

It's often been said that I'm an extremely depressing, cynical writer. I've never known what to make of that.

I'm not afraid to look like an idiot on TV.

Oregon is outflanking California as the most left wing state in the union.

To worship God in truth is to recognize Him for being who He is, and to recognize ourselves for what we are.

I work toward the liberation of women, but I'm not feminist. I'm just a woman.

Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is like yours. All other ways deceive and tempt you. You must fulfill the way that is in you.

I was the perfect candidate. America had their chance with the perfect candidate.

The people of America, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners.

United States foreign policy, which includes national security, is literally disintegrating before our eyes.

In ‘life,’ I don’t want to be reduced to my work. In ‘work,’ I don’t want to be reduced to my life.

Don't die with your music (stories/talents) still inside you. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.