We are suspicious of grace. We are afraid of the very lavishness of the gift.

Have you ever tried to get to your feet with a sprained dignity?

There is no way that you can read the entire Bible seriously and take every word literally. Contradictions start in the first chapter of Genesis. There are two Creation stories, two stories of the making of Adam and Eve. And that is all right. The Bible is still true.

To create a work of art, great or small, is work, hard work, and work requires discipline and order.

I have never lived before...Until this summer, I did not know what it was to be alive.

My writing knows more than I know. What a writer must do is listen to her book. It might take you where you don’t expect to go. That’s what happens when you write stories. You listen and you say ‘a ha,’ and you write it down. A lot of it is not planned, not conscious; it happens while you’re doing it. You know more about it after you’re done.

It takes too much energy to be against something unless it's really important.