“When less than everything has been said about a subject, you can still think on further. The alternative is for the audience to be presented with a final deduction (...) no effort on their part.What can it mean to them when they have not shared with the author the misery and joy of bringing an image into being?”

“Being a little nervous when you present means that you really care about what you have to say. Audience members see this as a signal that you are solicitous of their esteem—there is a graceful humility this—and that you care enough to want to do a great job. Caring for your audience almost always has a boomerang effect.”

“Writing can be a lifeline, expecially when your existence has been denied, especially when you have been left on the margins, especially when your life and process of growth have been subjected to attempts at strangulation.”

“Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think. ”

“Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.”

“...in autobiography, as in all literature, what actually happened is less important than what the author can manage to persuade his audience to believe”