No mother is ever, completely, a child's idea of what a mother should be, and I suppose it works the other way around as well. But despite everything, we didn't do too badly by one another, we did as well as most.

Which of us can resist the temptation of being thought indispensable?

Love was like a steamroller. There was no avoiding it; it went over you and you came out flat.

I have a big following among the biogeeks of this world. Nobody ever puts them in books.

If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged.

I'm not an activist by nature. I am suspicious of Utopian thinking and equally suspicious of its alternate. I would prefer to stay in the Writing Burrow and play with my imaginary friends and enemies. I get sucked into these things.

We shouldn't be saying 'Save the planet'; we should be saying: 'Save viable conditions in which people can live.' That's what we're dealing with here.