Apathy is the self-defense of the powerless.

Friends seem to be like aspirin; we don't really know why they make a sick person feel better, but they do.

Over the years, I've found that I either live life or write about it. I can't seem to do both simultaneously - I have to do it sequentially. When I write incessantly, I lose touch with the issues and passions that fuel the work. But when I get too involved in organizations or movement endeavors, I almost forget that I'm a writer. It's a constant struggle to find a balance between these two worlds - the solitary writing life and the life of a social justice activist.

If the Richter scale could measure human calamities, the loss of a child would register a ten.

I feel about mothers the way I feel about dimples: because I do not have one myself, I notice everyone who does.

We need old friends to help us grow old and new friends to help us stay young.

To me, a person's identity is composed of both an 'I' and a 'we.' The 'I' finds itself in love, work, and pleasure, but it also locates itself within some meaningful group identity - a tribe, a community, a 'we.' America is too big and bland a tribe for most of us.