Words matter, words have import.

Words matter, words have import.

We don't like admitting this, but it is a key component of human existence: the fact that life has the potential for things both wondrous and horrific.

I want to be a popular novelist who's also serious, or a serious novelist who's also very accessible.

We can rarely tell others what we really think about them--not just because it would so wound them, but also because it would so wound ourselves.

We all want to fix things. Just as we all believe that so much in life can be rectified. Mend fences, build bridges, reach out, engage in mutual healing.

I've been known to write on the Underground in London and on the subway in New York. I have two or three cafes in Paris that I go into. I find a corner with a little shade, and I can work.