The enemy is not men. The enemy is the concept of patriarchy, the concept of patriarchy as the way to run the world or do things.

You are your best thing

I think being an editor really helped me take other people's notes on my writing. I'd get a note like 'It's too wet' or 'The first couple chapters are good, but then the rest of the pages were so wet that they were completely illegible' or 'Did you dip this in Sprite? This smells like Sprite. Why would you dip your novel in Sprite?' And instead of pushing back, I'd listen. That's an incredibly important skill for a young writer to have.

I have difficulties with contemporary language. Big difficulties. I counted, you know, something like 160 words have disappeared from the English language because of the use of the word "like." "I'm like, he's like" - not "thought," not "as if ."

you got two feet, Sethe, not four." he said, and right then a forest sprang up between them; tactless and quiet.

It would be ten years before they saw each other again, and their meeting would be thick with birds.

The formula for creative writing in high school or college is write what you know.