there are people who read my work and accuse me of being political! As far as I'm concerned that's like accusing a dog of having a bark!

If we can't, as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.

One of the very first things I figured out about life...is that it's better to be a hopeful person than a cynical, grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you're hopeful, you have more fun.

It takes some courage to write fiction about politically controversial topics. The dread is you'll be labeled a political writer.

Culture is a slingshot moved by the force of its past

Literature duplicates the experience of living in a way that nothing else can, drawing you so fully into another life that you temporarily forget you have one of your own. That is why you read it, and might even sit up in bed till early dawn, throwing your whole tomorrow out of whack, simply to find out what happens to some people who, you know perfectly well, are made up.

You could love your crazy people, even admire them, instead of resenting that they're not self-sufficient.