You can't be afraid to do good in case evil results.

People give one another things that can't be gift wrapped.

Once you have some sort of reputation in the outside world, they will try to woo you. They will say, "Won't you come and be on a talk program about books? That's not political." Then they can say to the outside world, "See how free it is, she appears on television. See how free it is." So I refused to have anything of mine read or dramatized on South African television.

Responsibility is what awaits outside the Eden of Creativity.

The creative act is not pure. History evidences it. Ideology demands it. Society exacts it.

I believe - I know (there are not many things I should care to dogmatize about, on the subject of writing) that writers need solitude, and seek alienation of a kind every day of their working lives. (And remember, they are not even aware when and when not they are working.) ... The tension between standing apart and being fully involved; that is what makes a writer.

I'm a candle flame that sways in currents of air you can't see. You need to be the one who steadies me to burn.