And then she had to fill out so many forms she forgot why she had come and what she had left behind.

There's no hope. There's no reason to keep trying. Because you must. This is not hope. Not reason. This is your fate. This is your life, what you must do.

For unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be. I could only be me.

I have loved works of fiction precisely for their illusions, for the author's sleight-of-hand in showing me the magic, what appeared in the right hand but not in the left.

Secrets are kept from children, a lid on top of the soup kettle, so they do not boil over with too much truth.

My parents had very high expectations. They expected me to get straight A's from the time I was in kindergarten.

You can have pride in what you do each day, but not arrogance in what you were born with.