When alone I am not aware of my race or my sex, both in need of social contexts for definition.

...I've learned exactly who the enemy are. I easily recognize them-business-suited in their modern American executive guise, each boss two feet taller than I am and impossible to meet eye to eye.

You must not tell anyone,' my mother said, 'what I am about to tell you.'

Joy and life exist nowhere but the present.

Hunger also changes the world - when eating can't be a habit, then neither can seeing.

To shut the door at the end of the workday, which does not spill over into evening. To throw away books after reading them so theydon't have to be dusted. To go through boxes on New Year's Eve and throw out half of what is inside. Sometimes for extravagance to pick a bunch of flowers for the one table. Other women besides me must have this daydream about a carefree life.

You're too young to decide to live forever.