As a kitten does what all other kittens do, so a child wants to do what other children do, with a wanting that is as powerful as it is mindless. Since we human beings have to learn what we do, we have to start out that way, but human mindfulness begins where that wish to be the same leaves off.

You sit down and you do it, and you do it, and you do it, until you have learned to do it.

Fantasy is a literature particularly useful for embodying and examining the real difference between good and evil. In an America where our reality may seem degraded to posturing patriotism and self-righteous brutality, imaginative literature continues to question what heroism is, to examine the roots of power, and to offer moral alternatives. Imagination is the instrument of ethics. There are many metaphors besides battle, many choices besides war, and most ways of doing good do not, in fact, involve killing anybody. Fanstasy is good at thinking about those other ways.

Do you know how to read?" "No. It is one of the black arts." He nodded. "But a useful one," he said.

In general she had found that the main drawback in being a man was that conversations were less interesting.

There is a limited number of plots. There is no limit to the number of stories.

The thing about working with time, instead of against it, he thought, is that it is not wasted. Even pain counts.