I tell beginning readers to read a lot and write a lot. If you want to write a book, find a subject that's really worth the time and effort you'll put in.

The combination of domesticity and wildness - that's a deep expression

I am grateful to Stacy Schiff first of all because she can write a sentence-because she offers us her scholarship with wit, clarity, and grace. Once again, she has done what only the best writers can do: she has made the world new, again.

... "You may not see the ocean, but right now we are in the middle of the ocean, and we have to keep swimming.

Don't worry about being worried. You're heading out on an adventure and you can always change your mind along the way and try something else.

What interests me is trying to catch the reflection of the human being on the page. I'm interested in how ordinary people live their lives

The goofiness of radicals thinking they have to dress in Guatemalan peasant clothes. The poor don't want you to look like them. They want you to dress in a suit and go get them food and water. Comma.