Mothers have a habit of proving right except you don't find that out until you're the age your mother was when she gave you the advice.

I believe that we often disguise pain through ritual and it may be the only solace we have.

It's a big jump from smart to motherwit.

In art as in politics we must deal with people as they are not as we wish them to be. Only by working with the real can you get closer to the ideal.

It's an act of faith to be a writer in a postliterate world.

sex has never been private and it never will be. We perform the act in private but we must be public about the connection. Sex is how we pass down worldly goods. It's how we create the primary unit of our society, the couple. ... This rule applies to gay people as well as straight people. ... The community absolutely must know who is straight, who is gay, who is married, and who is single. Without that information we make painful mistakes and lose time.

I think gay people are like blondes: There're fewer of them but they have more fun.