In the far upper corner of my altar is a photo of Joan Crawford in her most fierce Mommy Dearest mode, just to remind me of some of the cost of everyone's hard-earned sweetness and light.

She thought of how precious it was to be able to know another person over many years. There was incomparable richness in it.

I'm not being disrespectful of the medium; it's just not as important as the work that I actually do [books].

If you want to have a life that is worth living, a life that expresses your deepest feelings and emotions, and cares and dreams, you have to fight for it.

What a burden to think one is conceived in sin rather than in pleasure; that one is born into evil rather than into joy.

Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.

In search of my mother's garden, I found my own.