I think one of the reasons I'm so thrilled with writing is because it is an act of reading for me at the same time, which is why my revisions are so sustained.

Jealousy we understood and thought natural... But envy was a strange, new feeling for us. And all the time we knew that Maureen Peal was not the Enemy and not worthy of such intense hatred. The Thing to fear was the Thing that made her beautiful, and not us.

There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.

No gasp at a miracle that is truly miraculous because the magic lies in the fact that you knew it was there for you all along.

My children are delightful people, whom I would love even if they weren't my children.

There is really nothing more to say - except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.

For a long time I was convinced that the conflict between Jewish people and black people in this country was a media event.