Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.

New York is a city where it's particularly hard to be poor, not only because everything costs twice as much as it does elsewhere but because over-the-top affluence is part of its identity.

If I get the forty additional years statisticians say are likely coming to me, I could fit in at least one, maybe two new lifetimes. Sad that only one of those lifetimes can include being the mother of young children.

Writing seems to be the only profession people imagine you can do by thinking about doing it.

In life, the classroom is everywhere. The exam comes at the very end.

The one thing that I always got positive reinforcement for from teachers, who really changed my life, was the written word.

Some of the most important lessons I've learned have been from stumbling, and I am deeply grateful that my parents allowed me to fight my own battles.