Good talkers are people who use interesting language and have a lot of energy in speech and who also listen.

To be modest means that you have something to be modest about.

The best training is to read and write, no matter what. Don't live with a lover or roommate who doesn't respect your work. Don't lie, buy time, borrow to buy time. Write what will stop your breath if you don't write.

In the park I met other women and I started to get interested in their lives. I developed a lot of pressure to talk about women's lives, and children's lives, too. Children interest me tremendously.

For me, the meaning of life is the next generation.

It wasn't until I lived in the countryside that I began to understand the life of the countryside and the people in it and trees and water. Just learning about water is an education for a city person.

That heartbreaking moment when you finish an amazing book, and you are forced to return to reality.