Becoming an author changes your attitude too. Once you see where books come from, and how they're made, they never seem quite as sacred again.

We're wired to expect the world to be brighter and more meaningful and more obviously interesting than it actually is. And when we realize that it isn't, we start looking around for the real world.

Being a writer can be isolating. It's good to be among readers and booksellers.

I got my heart's desire, and there my troubles began.

In a way fighting was just like using magic. You said the words, and they altered the universe. By merely speaking you could create damage and pain, cause tears to fall, drive people away, make yourself feel better, make your life worse.

Most people are blind to magic. They move thru a blank and empty world. They’re bored with their lives and there’s nothing they can do about it. They’re eaten alive by longing and they’re dead before they die.

Magic: it was what happened when the mind met the world, and the mind won for a change.