I don't take compliments so well. I always hang my head and shuffle and kind of try to immediately forget.

It's the tradition of American writers getting away in order to see the country - to get a better view.

No single person who has ever lived will be able to tell you what happens. Period. Nobody's right and nobody's wrong.

Don't be afraid of anyone. Imagine your life if you're not afraid of anyone.

When I was four, I was a kind of sky worshipper. I would look at the sky, and I wanted to evaporate into the sky - I loved the sky. I loved looking at the trees, just because they touched the sky.

Why do you have to translate and decode things? Just let the image be. It will have a special kind of reality that it won't once it's decoded.

I see and write things first as an artist, second as a woman, and third as a New Yorker. All three have built-in perspectives that aren't neutral.