When I'm writing I don't dream much; it's like the dreaming gets used in the writing.

Readers, after all, are making the world with you. You give them the materials, but it's the readers who build that world in their own minds.

The artist deals with what cannot be said in words.

Sure, it's simple, writing for kids... Just as simple as bringing them up.

I have never heard a dancer asking for advice about how to stay focused on her footwork, or a painter complaining about the dull day-to-day task of painting. What task worth doing isn't worth daily effort? Do you think Michelangelo was having fun the whole time he was on his back painting the Sistine Chapel's ceiling?

What is a woman's power then?" she asked. "I don't think we know." "When has a woman power because she's a woman? With her children, I suppose. For a while..." "In her house, maybe." She looked around the kitchen. "But the doors are shut," she said, "the doors are locked." "Because you're valuable." "Oh yes. We're precious. So long as we're powerless.

... the habit of literature [is] the best defense against believing the half-truths of ideologues and the lies of demagogues.