The most professional curse ever snarled or croaked or thundered can have no effect on a pure heart.

I am a king's daughter, And if I cared to care, The moon that has no mistress Would flutter in my hair. No one dares to cherish What I choose to crave. Never have I hungered, For that I did not have I am a kings daughter, And I grow old within The prison of my person, The shackles of my skin. And I would run away And beg from door to door, Just to see your shadow Once, and never more.

Wisdom is finding joy in bewilderment

Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.

There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.

How's the Angel of Death supposed to do his job with clipped wings?

Writing has nothing to do with publishing. Nothing. People get totally confused about that. You write because you have to - you write because you can't not write. The rest is show-business. I can't state that too strongly. Just write - worry about the rest of it later, if you worry at all. What matters is what happens to you while you're writing the story, the poem, the play. The rest is show-business.