No kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred.

The things I carry closest to my heart are things I can't own.

It occurs to her that there is one thing about people you can never understand well enough: how entirely inside themselves they are.

It's very important to distinguish between innocence and naivete. The innocent do not deserve to be the victims of violence. But only the naive refuse to think about the origins of violence and to pursue the possibility that the genesis of that hatred could be addressed.

We're surrounded by mandates, and I believe that literature should be mandate-free. I feel very strongly about that.

...whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. And peace will be with you.

A mother's body remembers her babies-the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. Each child has it's own entreaties to body and soul.