You know who my gods are, who I believe in fervently? Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson - she's probably the top - Mozart, Shakespeare, Keats. These are wonderful gods who have gotten me through the narrow straits of life.

Girls are infinitely more complicated than boys, and women more than men.

I never spent less than two years on the text of one of my picture books, even though each of them is approximately 380 words long. Only when the text is finished ... do I begin the pictures.

I want to see me to the end working, living for myself. Ripeness is all.

I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more.

And it's one of the sexiest things you will ever read of how slow you should take the peach. Don't rush it.

You know who my gods are, who I believe in fervently? Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson - she's probably the top - Mozart, Shakespeare, Keats. These are wonderful gods who have gotten me through the narrow straits of life.