“Just handle the books gently and you’ll get along fine.”

“Truth is a troublesome motherfucker unless it's handled properly”

“Don't get me wrong, magic is cool. But a nervous mother singing to her child at night while something moves quietly through the dark outside her house? That's a story. Handled properly, it's more dramatic than any apocalypse or goblin army could ever be.”

“If you want to write a fantasy story with Norse gods, sentient robots, and telepathic dinosaurs, you can do just that. Want to throw in a vampire and a lesbian unicorn while you're at it? Go ahead. Nothing's off limits. But the endless possibility of the genre is a trap. It's easy to get distracted by the glittering props available to you and forget what you're supposed to be doing: telling a good story. Don't get me wrong, magic is cool. But a nervous mother singing to her child at night while something moves quietly through the dark outside her house? That's a story. Handled properly, it's more dramatic than any apocalypse or goblin army could ever be.”

“Do you just want to get by? Or do you want to make me proud?”

“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”

“Each woman is like an instrument, waiting to be learned, loved, and finely played, to have at last her own true music made.”