I Think My Mother Was Very Spiritual.

My Favorite Optimist Was An American Who Jumped Off The Empire State Building, And As He Passed The 42nd Floor, The Window Washers Heard Him Say, 'so Far, So Good.'

I Think Technique Can Be Taught But I Think The Only Way To Learn To Write Is To Read, And I See Writing And Reading As Completely Related. One Almost Couldn't Exist Without The Other.

When I Start To Write, Words Have Become Physical Presence. It Was To See If I Could Bring That Private World To Life That Found Its First Expression Through Reading. I Really Dislike The Romantic Notion Of The Artist.

We Absolutely Believed In Heaven And Hell, Purgatory, And Even Limbo. I Mean, They Were Actually Closer To Us Than Australia Or Canada, That They Were Real Places.

Among Its Many Other Obligations, Fiction Always Has To Be Believable. Life Does Not Have To Suffer Such Constraint, And Much Of What Takes Place Is Believable Only Because It Happens.