"People who think dying is the worst thing don't know a thing about life."
"I vividly remember the summer of 1964 with its voter registration drives, boiling racial tensions, and the erupting awareness of the cruelty of racism. I was never the same after that summer."
"As an adolescent, I went to charm school, where I learned to pour tea and relate to boys, which, as I recall, meant giving them the pickle jar to unscrew, whether it was too hard for me or not."
"I think many people need, even require, a narrative version of their life. I seem to be one of them. Writing memoir is, in some ways, a work of wholeness."
"I think there must be a place inside of us where dreams go and wait their turn."
"Stories are amazing and powerful because they can resonate with people depending on their needs and experiences and speak truths we need to hear in that moment in time."
"I learned a long time ago that some people would rather die than forgive. It's a strange truth, but forgiveness is a painful and difficult process. It's not something that happens overnight. It's an evolution of the heart."
"It's always been my hope that I would write a story that would inspire and would connect with people in a way that would touch hearts."
"I came to believe that my true identity goes beyond the outer roles I play. It transcends the ego. I came to understand that there is an Authentic 'I' within - an 'I Am,' or divine spark within the soul."
"The True Self is not our creation, but God's. It is the self we are in our depths. It is our capacity for divinity and transcendence."
"I eventually found that the soul is more than an immortal commodity to win and save. It is the repository of the inner divine, the truest part of us."
"When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to become vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others."
"I never know how to give advice to a writer because there's so much you could say, and it's hard to translate your own experience. But of course, I always try. The main thing that I usually end up saying is to read a lot. To read a great deal and to learn from that."
"Novels attempt to render human experience; that's really all they are. They are meant to convey empathy for the character."
"I've always been a journal-keeper. I've always tried to write about how I'm experiencing life, and my feelings and thoughts."
"Gradually it occurred to me that we spend a great deal of life asleep and that dreams are little narratives, little stories. I thought, 'Who's choreographing this stuff?'"
"A lot of time you write out of some unconscious place. I try to trust what is coming and where it wants to take me."
"There's a gap somehow between empathy and activism. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of 'soul force' - something that emanates from a deep truth inside of us and empowers us to act. Once you identify your inner genius, you will be able to take action, whether it's writing a check or digging a well."
"I can't explain exactly why it lives within me for so long and passionately. But race matters to me; racial equality matters to me, as does gender. There is something about these kinds of social injustices that go to the deep of me."
"Gender and race got very entwined in the 19th century, as abolition broke out, and then women wanted the right to speak about it."
"I'm always captivated by stories of women who find a way to be daring - misbehaving women."
"I don't go in search of ideas; I try to let them find me."
"I knew from reading about Sarah Grimke that she'd been given a handmaid to be her personal slave and that her name was Hetty. The only other fact I knew about her was that Sarah taught her to read: They conspired in a very subversive way, by locking the door and screening the keyhole."
"I was a very good nurse, but I burned out after eight years or so because it wasn't what I truly wanted to do. Writing is what I belong to."
"I read usually in the morning, in my kitchen at breakfast - a short reading time, usually poetry. I read in bed every night. I usually get in bed pretty early with a book, and I read until I can't prop my eyes open anymore - sometimes rather late."
