The brave view is that talking it out helps work it out. Maybe the realistic view is that talking it out inflames the issues further. But that is America, especially these days.

My great fear is not that I'll run out of ideas. It's that I'll run out of time.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

Writing novels is an essentially amateur activity.

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses

After a long day, folk rest at night. After a long summer, folk play games and sit about in the winter. After a long life folk sit about the fire and stay warm, for the chill of death is upon them, and even the thickest bearskin can't keep off the shivering.

Novelists never have to footnote.