I know that there are people out there who believe we should get rid of all guns.

I don't write for an audience, I don't think whether my book will sell, I don't sell it before I finish writing it.

Some people are born to make great art and others are born to appreciate it. … It is a kind of talent in itself, to be an audience, whether you are the spectator in the gallery or you are listening to the voice of the world's greatest soprano. Not everyone can be the artist. There have to be those who witness the art, who love and appreciate what they have been privileged to see.

To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall .... [p.218 ff.]

If anybody had shown me the paperwork for how my life was going to look in five years, I would have said, "No. That is not where I want to go."

I'm very comfortable writing.

Home, bed, sleep, mother--who knew more beautiful words than these?