Sometimes words drew blood, they cut your tongue, they made you know things you couldn't unknow.

And then I understood that she had no idea what she'd done to my family. She thought love and hatred were equal.

Young Sally Owens: He will hear my call a mile away. He will whistle my favorite song. He can ride a pony backwards. Young Gillian Owens: What are you doing? Young Sally Owens: Summoning up a true love spell called Amas Veritas. He can flip pancakes in the air. He'll be marvelously kind. And his favorite shape will be a star. And he'll have one green eye and one blue. Young Gillian Owens: Thought you never wanted to fall in love. Young Sally Owens: That's the point. The guy I dreamed of doesn't exist. And if he doesn't exist I'll never die of a broken heart.

Some things you cannot wish away or think away. They become part of you when you remember them.

I read Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," all of Shirley Jackson's books, which I loved.

Ironically, now that my children are older and gone quite a bit, I find it harder to work when they're not around. Too much free time!

He has the ability to catch someone by the way that he looks at her, and make her wish he would go on looking.