“Design is the conscious imposition of meaningful order.”

“Perhaps fiction has, for me, served a similar purpose--what is a narrative arc if not the imposition of order on disparate events?--and perhaps it is my avid reading that has been my faith all along.”

“Consciousness and HealingTo proceed very far through the desert, you must be willing to meet existential suffering and work it through. In order to do this, the attitude toward pain has to change. This happens when we accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth.”

“In order to lead a meaningful life, you need to cherish others, pay attention to human values and try to cultivate inner peace.”

“Fashion is an imposition, a rein on freedom.”

“The relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of the others in order to end the racial nightmare and acheive our country.”