I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate

I have to get my will in order. I have to get the Macondo Foundation going. I want to invest the money and resources that I've gotten from working so hard so that it's shared and it has its life beyond me.

The experience taught me to be present in the real Buddhist sense of paying attention to the moment.

I think there's a rule that once you want to live somewhere, you can't find a job.

I never know what something is going to be until it emerges from the womb and you see the crown of its head and then you see it pushing its way up. So in my life if another book wants to be born it's not for me to choose.

You want to be able to say anything when you do your first draft, because some of that goofy stuff that you think has nothing to do with it is probably where the mother lode is.

My mom was a frustrated woman, like so many unhappy women who didn't get the opportunities they wanted.