I believe, in my better moments, that there is a plan and things go not the way we want them to but the way they should.

It was too much work to remember things you might not have again, and so one by one they opened up their hands and let them go.

Everyone knows everything eventually.

Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity, it gives us the skills to be alone. It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin.

I used to do everything to keep a wall up around myself and keep my life quiet so that I could write.

People always say, "Can writing be taught?" I always think, I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to do dialogue, how to do character, but I can't teach you how to be a decent person, and I can't teach you how to have something to say.

I don't want to stand with somebody's praise.