“Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves.”

“The first act of insight is throw away the labels. In fiction, while we do not necessarily write about ourselves, we write out of ourselves, using ourselves; what we learn from, what we are sensitive to, what we feel strongly about--these become our characters and go to make our plots. Characters in fiction are conceived from within, and they have, accordingly, their own interior life; they are individuals every time.”

“As we tell stories about the lives of others, we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events. At the same time, we identify with the other creature and learn something about ourselves.”

“What I do think is that we have to take what happens and learn from it and make ourselves a better person because of it.”

“We best teach what we ourselves have learned.”

“How we relate with other people is dependent on how we rate ourselves and what we think about ourselves.”