I thought the whole world was like Lorain.

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

As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.

The Nobel Prize is the best thing that can happen to a writer in terms of how it affects your contracts, the publishers, and the seriousness with which your work is taken. On the other hand, it does interfere with your private life, or it can if you let it, and it has zero effect on the writing. It doesn't help you write better and if you let it, it will intimidate you about future projects.

There is no civilization that did not begin with art, Whether it was drawing a line in the sand, painting a cave or dancing.

Was it hard? I hope she didn't die hard.' Sethe shook her head. 'Soft as cream. Being alive was the hard part.

Sunk in the grass of an empty lot on a spring Saturday, I split the stems of milkweed and thought about ants and peach pits and death and where the world went when I closed my eyes.