“..Don't ever take for granted when people look in your eyes - you've no idea how lucky you are. Actually, forget about the luck, you've no idea how important it is to be acknowledged, even if it is with an angry glare. It's when they ignore you, when they look right through you, that you should start worrying.”

“Don't ever take for granted when people look in your eyes; you have no idea how important it is to be acknowledged. Even if it's an angry stare, because it's when they ignore you, when they look right through you, that you should start worrying.”

“Don’t ever take it for granted when people look into you’re eyes… You’ve no idea how important it is to be acknowledged. Even if it is an angry glare, because it’s when they ignore you, when they look right through you, that you should start worrying.”

“Ron Carlson says, 'The most undervalued craft device that fiction writers need is empathy. You need to be able to actually imagine what your characters are going through. You've got to stay close. When you're in a story and dealing with people you're not certain of, or you've just come to meet because they've stepped into your story, it's very important to go slow and sit in their chair.' As Carlson also says, you don't have to love the people or the characters you write about, but they should be at least as smart as you. Look beyond stereotypes.”

“You've no idea how good an old joke sounds when you take it out again after a rest of five or six hundred years.”

“Speaking, when you have something to say, is like looking. But who looks? If people could see properly, and see whole, they would all be painters. And it's because people have no idea how to look that they hardly ever understand.”