When I was very young, I would occasionally stick 'f****' where I knew something contentious might happen so that the editor could remove the word 'f***' very proudly and leave whatever else was around it.

So, if a city has a personality, maybe it also has a soul. Maybe it dreams.

The first author I remember being obsessed by, actually realizing 'I like the way he writes and I like the way he tells stories,' was C.S. Lewis and the 'Narnia' books.

You don't have to test everything to destruction just to see if you made it right.

Virginia is the place, where, technologically speaking, they will burn people at the stake for possessing such things as toasters.

Remember: that giants sleep too soundly; that witches are often betrayed by their appetites; dragons have one soft spot, somewhere, always; hearts can be well-hidden, and you can betray them with your tongue. (from "Instructions")

Everything here is so weak, little girl. Everything breaks so easily. They want such simple things.