What do you get out of hating people, out of having this bitterness in your heart always?

They say life is all about connecting, like that's a good thing. But when brain and eyes are lining up you know different.

With Shakespeare and poetry, a new world was born. New dreams, new desires, a self consciousness was born. I desired to know to know myself in terms of the new standards set by these books.

You don't have to be a good person to be a good writer--history shows it's better if you're not--but you have to understand your badness.

Mom had the kind of love for her that you could feel, like it was part of the atmosphere

To get from people you had to give a piece of yourself, a real piece that mattered. Just being nice was not enough.

To live with the conscious knowledge of the shadow of uncertainty, with the knowledge that disaster or tragedy could strike at any time; to be afraid and to know and acknowledge your fear, and still to live creatively and with unstinting love: that is to live with grace.