“Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.”

“Well, get used to it, the whole world is nuts.”

“And in taking on the subject of themselves-making themselves vulnerable to the unseen reader-they have exchanged powerlessness for for the power that comes with self-awareness.”

“Religion's just a well-oiled profit-driven denial of the randomness of it all.”

“Look, don't just stare at the pages," I used to tell my students. "Become the characters. Live inside the book.”

“That time we separated was my idea. I thought, well, I'm fifty years old and there might be someone else out there. People waste their happiness - that's what makes me sad. Everyone's so scared to be happy.”

“But I think this: that whatever prices I've paid, whatever sorrows I shoulder, well, I have blessings, too. Not just my family now, but the others-the ones who have died...They're with me still. They're here...”