Pine trees with low limbs spread over fresh snow made a stronger vault for the spirit than pews and pulpits ever could.

When I left Iowa, I definitely never wanted to stand in front of a group of academics again and see if they approved of me. I made up my mind to take my work to the actual reading public.

When I started to be a writer, I was not going to run the risk of boring you.

I'm not one of these people who thinks everyone born into privilege should wear sack cloth and ashes. But it's something I wrestle with. I know a lot of people who live below the poverty level and have for a long time and it makes them uneasy to think they'll have to interact with people from different economic levels. Everyone has some sort of load put on them, whatever the circumstances they're born into.

Never. Never ask for what ought to be offered.

The heart makes dreams seem like ideas.

Long, dark, and lovely she had been, in those days before her mind broke and the parts scattered and she let them go.