Murky language means someone wants to pick your pocket.

We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.

If, every day, I dare to remember that I am here on loan, that this house, this hillside, these minutes are all leased to me, not given, I will never despair.

When I was a ten-year old bookworm and used to kiss the dust jacket pictures of authors as if they were icons, it used to amaze me that these remote people could provoke me to love.

All authors know that any book is a casting of runes, a reading of cards, a map of the palm and heart. We make up the ocean - then fall in. But we also write the life raft.

You should write first drafts as if they will never be shown to anyone.

Any system was a straightjacket if you insisted on adhering to it so totally and humorlessly.