Top quotes by Isabel Allende

All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them. Certain themes keep coming up: justice, loyalty, violence, death, political and social issues, freedom. Votes: 41

We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome. Votes: 33

On a Tuesday, September 11th, 1973, we had the military coup in Chile that forced me to leave my country eventually. And then, on a Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, we had the terrorist attack in the United States. Votes: 26

I was such a sullen, angry, sad kid. I'm sure there are writers who have had happy childhoods, but what are you going to write about? No ghosts, no fear. I'm very happy that I had an unhappy and uncomfortable childhood. Votes: 24

Before the military coup in Chile, we had the idea that military coups happen in Banana Republics, somewhere in Central America. It would never happen in Chile. Chile was such a solid democracy. And when it happened, it had brutal characteristics. Votes: 20

Give, give, give - what is the point of having experience, knowledge or talent if I don't give it away? Of having stories if I don't tell them to others? Of having wealth if I don't share it? I don't intend to be cremated with any of it! It is in giving that I connect with others, with the world and with the divine. Votes: 18

I'm aware of the mystery around us, so I write about coincidences, premonitions, emotions, dreams, the power of nature, magic. Votes: 18

I have been a foreigner all my life, first as a daughter of diplomats, then as a political refugee and now as an immigrant in the U.S. I have had to leave everything behind and start anew several times, and I have lost most of my extended family. Votes: 18

For real change, we need feminine energy in the management of the world. We need a critical number of women in positions of power, and we need to nurture the feminine energy in men. Votes: 17

One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a city or a county, and move West, most of the time West. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories. Votes: 17

From journalism I learned to write under pressure, to work with deadlines, to have limited space and time, to conduct and interview, to find information, to research, and above all, to use language as efficiently as possible and to remember always that there is a reader out there. Votes: 15

I get up every morning early, when the sky is red, and write for 10 hours. Votes: 13

I never try to give a message in my books. It's about living with characters long enough to hear their voices and let them tell me the story. Sometimes I would love to have a happy ending, and it doesn't happen because the character or the story leads me in another direction. Votes: 12

In the books I have written, I have created in my mind a universe. My kids say I have a village in my head and I live in that village, and it's true. When I start writing a book, characters from previous books reappear. All my emotions, my mind, my heart, my dreams, everything becomes connected with a new book, and nothing else really matters. Votes: 11

Giving women education, work, the ability to control their own income, inherit and own property, benefits the society. If a woman is empowered, her children and her family will be better off. If families prosper, the village prospers, and eventually so does the whole country. Votes: 10

I want to have an epic life. I want to tell my life with big adjectives. I want to forget all the grays in between, and remember the highlights and the dark moments. Votes: 9

There's basically an element of fiction in everything you remember. Imagination and memory are almost the same brain processes. When I write fiction, I know that I'm using a bunch of lies that I've made up to create some form of truth. When I write a memoir, I'm using true elements to create something that will always be somehow fictionalized. Votes: 8

Feminism is dated? Yes, for privileged women like my daughter and all of us here today, but not for most of our sisters in the rest of the world who are still forced into premature marriage, prostitution, forced labor - they have children that they don't want or they cannot feed. Votes: 8

If this world is going to be a better place for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it will be women who make it so. Votes: 7

A memoir forces me to stop and remember carefully. It is an exercise in truth. In a memoir, I look at myself, my life, and the people I love the most in the mirror of the blank screen. In a memoir, feelings are more important than facts, and to write honestly, I have to confront my demons. Votes: 7

The media could do a much better job, that's for sure, especially the media that targets women... Human rights? They couldn't care less! Votes: 7

In the United States, the fact that you can start again gives a lot of energy and strength and youth to this country. That is why it's so powerful in many ways, and so creative. Votes: 6

I rebelled against all form of authority, against my grandfather, my step-father, the Church, the police, the government, the bosses. Everything male that was there, and was determining my life. Votes: 6

I was a very bad journalist. Awful. I would just invent everything. If I did an interview, I had a preconception of what that person should say and I would put my words in his mouth. Votes: 6

I write to understand my circumstances, to sort out the confusion of reality, to exorcise my demons. But most of all, I write because I love it! Votes: 6

I am happier when I love than when I am loved. I adore my husband, my son, my grandchildren, my mother, my dog, and frankly, I don't know if they even like me. But who cares? Loving them is my joy. Votes: 6

I have lived with passion and in a hurry, trying to accomplish too many things. I never had time to think about my beliefs until my 28-year-old daughter Paula fell ill. She was in a coma for a year, and I took care of her at home until she died in my arms in December of 1992. Votes: 5

One of the things that always comes up in my writing is the search for freedom, especially in women. I always write about women who are marginalized, who have no means or resources and somehow manage to get out of those situations with incredible strength - and that is more important than anything. Votes: 3

I tend to see the similarities in people and not the differences. Votes: 3

Twittering and blogging and all that is fine, but there is no idea of how to phrase something beautifully; how to use language to create an emotion. It's just passing information and sometimes very superficial information. Votes: 2

I get thousands of letters, and they give me a feeling of how each book is perceived. Often I think I have written about a certain theme, but by reading the letters or reviews, I realise that everybody sees the book differently. Votes: 0

I feel that telling my secrets makes me less vulnerable. What would make me vulnerable are the secrets I keep. Votes: 0

I like historical fiction. I fell in love with New Orleans the first time I visited it. And I wanted to place a story in New Orleans. Votes: 0

Kids are smart: don't underestimate their bull detector. Contemporary kids have access to a lot of information, so don't even try to fool them. I have never been more nervous about my research than when writing for young adults because they pick up every single error. Votes: 0

Women have always been courageous... They are always fearless when protecting their children and in the last century they have been fearless in the fight for their rights. Votes: 0

The fact that you own a gun and shoot to defend your life is a very American way of thinking. Votes: 0

Americans have a warrior's mentality, most of them. That's how this society was built. The fact that you own a gun and shoot to defend your life is a very American way of thinking. Votes: 0

Writing is my job. I don't think of it as art. Votes: 0

My life is about ups and downs, great joys and great losses. Votes: 0

What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power, and the power to abuse. Votes: 0

I can promise you that women working together - linked, informed and educated - can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet. Votes: 0

I have become an American citizen, and I love this country. I think that this country has incredible potential for goodness, an incredible possibility for doing the wrong thing, too. Votes: 0

In times of conflict, war, poverty or religious fundamentalism, women and children are the first and most numerous victims. Women need all their courage today. Votes: 0

I never thought that I would come to live in the United States. I was not pursuing the American dream. Votes: 0

Empowering women means trusting them. Votes: 0

The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership. I get a little angry when people try to say such a thing. Votes: 0

I can't control life for my grandchildren, so how could I control a story? Sometimes I try to force something, and after working and working on that chapter, I realise that I am swimming against the current. I will never get there. So I have to let go of whatever previous idea I had about it and let the characters decide. Votes: 0

My father left when I was three, and I have no memory of him. The most significant male figures in my life were my grandfather, in whose house I lived during the first 10 years of my childhood, and later my stepfather. Votes: 0

I remember my childhood as a horrible time. My mother says that nothing so horrible ever happened to me as the things that I remember. Votes: 0

Everything that has to do with food is sensuous. In the United States, however, we are eating all the time. We have a problem with obesity. And yet, we don't enjoy food that much. Votes: 0

Although women do two-thirds of the world's labor, they own less than one percent of the world's assets. Votes: 0

Writing is a calling, not a choice. Votes: 0

I'm interested in people who have to overcome obstacles, people who are not sheltered by the umbrella of the establishment, marginals. Votes: 0

If I didn't write my soul would dry up and die. Votes: 0

You couldn't find two people more different than my mother and I. There are a thousand things about me that she fought against. Votes: 0

Roots are not in landscape or a country, or a people, they are inside you. Votes: 0

When I write fiction, I never try to deliver a message; I just want to tell a story. But I admit that I want the story to be memorable and the characters to touch the reader's heart. Votes: 0

I write until the first draft is finished, and then I feel that I can get out. But, during the time of the writing of the first draft, I don't go out. I'm just locked away, writing. It's a time of meditation, of going into the story. Votes: 0

Every life of a character is within a context. If I write detached from a social and political background, my story looks like a soap opera where everybody is indoors, not working and living off their emotions. Votes: 0

Everybody has losses - it's unavoidable in life. Sharing our pain is very healing. Votes: 0

The first lie of fiction is that the author gives some order to the chaos of life: chronological order, or whatever order the author chooses. Votes: 0

I'm living in California but I have a place that is mine in Chile and I belong there. I am no longer an exile. Votes: 0

I have written about Chile extensively, and therefore I have read many books on the subject, mostly for research. Votes: 0

If you change the way you tell your own story, you can change the colour and create a life in technicolour. Votes: 0

This was a matter of some small group of guerrillas in some distant caves, a primitive, fanatical, and desperate people who didn't have the resources to intimidate the United States. Votes: 0

I've been so thoroughly incorporated into the California culture that I practice meditation and go to a therapist, even though I always set a trap: during my meditation I invent stories to keep from being bored, and in therapy I invent stories to keep from boring the psychologist. Votes: 0

I'd realized that in writing happiness is useless-without suffering there is no story. Votes: 0

Just as when we come into the world, when we die we are afraid of the unknown. But the fear is something from within us that has nothing to do with reality. Dying is like being born: just a change Votes: 0

They taught using an Italian system of experimental education in which the students did whatever the fuck we wanted." Votes: 0

Heart is what drives us and determines our fate. That is what I need for my characters in my books: a passionate heart. I need mavericks, dissidents, adventurers, outsiders and rebels, who ask questions, bend the rules and take risks. Votes: 0

I don't want an uneventful and safe life, I prefer an adventurous one. Votes: 0

People are afraid of falling in love because they don't want to suffer. Votes: 0

I was born in ancient times, at the end of the world, in a patriarchal Catholic and conservative family. No wonder that by age five I was a raging feminist - although the term had not reached Chile yet, so nobody knew what the heck was wrong with me. Votes: 0

Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me. Votes: 0

For women, the best aphrodisiacs are words. The G-spot is in the ears. He who looks for it below there is wasting his time. Votes: 0

At the most difficult moments of my life, when it seemed that every door was closed to me, the taste of those apricots comes back to comfort me with the notion that abundance is always within reach, if only one knows how to find it. Votes: 0

When I'm scared - and I'm always scared when I have to face an audience, when I have to read a review, when I publish a book...then, I think of my grandfather. My grandfather was this strong, tough Basque who would never bend....What would he do? Well, he would go ahead, close his eyes, and drive forward. You do it and the spirit that is within you....is there. Votes: 0

Only that, nothing more - a tiny beam of light to show some hidden aspect of reality, to help decipher and understand it and thus to initiate, if possible, a change in the conscience of some readers. Votes: 0

Barrabas came to us by sea, the child Clara wrote in her delicate calligraphy. Votes: 0

I don't think I would be a writer if I had stayed in Chile. I would be trapped in the chores, in the family, in the person that people expected me to be. Votes: 0

Eros is very close to death. And both things, in a way, balance each other. Votes: 0

It is absurd to imagine that any child will be able to earn a living, let alone contribute to resolving our world's complex problems, without knowing how to read and write. My foundation supports the National Writing Project so that teachers can be more effective in their efforts to improve literacy for all students. Votes: 0

I was born in the middle of World War II, the middle of the Holocaust; I was born when there was no declaration of human rights, when feminism was not an issue, when children were working in factories. I mean, today's world is a better place! Votes: 0

The most savory grape, the one that produces the wines with best texture and aroma, the sweetest and most generous, doesn't grow in rich soil but in stony land; the plant, with a mother's obstinacy, overcomes obstacles to thrust its roots deep into the ground and take advantage of every drop of water. That, my grandmother explained to me, is how flavors are concentrated in the grape. Votes: 0

Humanity has this need to hear stories because they connect us with other people, they teach us about our own feelings. We feel less lonely when we see other people going through the same things, even if they're fictional characters. Votes: 0

...memory is fragile and the space of a single life is brief, passing so quickly that we never get a chance to see the relationship between events; we cannot gauge the consequences of our acts, and we believe in the fiction of past, present, and future, but it may also be true that everything happens simultaneously. Votes: 0

My writing comes not from the happy moments, but from struggle and grief. Votes: 0

She was considered timid and morose. Only in the country, her skin tanned by the sun and her belly full of ripe fruit, running through the fields with Pedro Tercero, was she smiling and happy. Her mother said that that was the real Blanca, and that the other one, the one back in the city, was a Blanca in hibernation. Votes: 0

I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. Votes: 0

That is the best part of writing: finding the hidden treasures, giving sparkle to worn out events, invigorating the tired soul with imagination, creating some kind of truth with many lies. Votes: 0

Peace requires everyone to be in the circle - wholeness, inclusion. Votes: 0

She sowed in my mind the idea that reality is not only what we see on the surface; it has a magical dimension as well and, if we so desire, it is legitimate to enhance it and color it to make our journey through life less trying. Votes: 0

Silence before being born, silence after death: life is nothing but noise between two unfathomable silences. Votes: 0

Literary characters, like my grandmother's apparitions, are fragile beings, easily frightened; they must be treated with care so they will feel comfortable in my pages Votes: 0

I should say that I'm not conscious of any particular style or any particular literary device when I am writing. I have written 22 books, and they are all very different. I have tried all kinds of genres. Votes: 0

There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them,' my mother explained shortly before she left me. 'If you can remember me, I will be with you always. Votes: 0

Do you truly believe that life is fair, Senor de la Vega? -No, maestro, but I plan to do everything in my power to make it so. Votes: 0

I have more freedom when I write fiction, but my memoirs have had a much stronger impact on my readers. Somehow the 'message,' even if I am not even aware that there is one, is conveyed better in this form. Votes: 0

Agosins poetic language engages the reader in a mesmerizing journey of inward reflection and exile. Votes: 0

You write a book and it's like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. You don't know if it will ever reach any shores. And there, you see, sometimes it falls in the hands of the right person. Votes: 0

People think that they will sit down and produce the great American novel in one sitting. It doesn't work that way. This is a very patient and meticulous work, and you have to do it with joy and love for the process, not for the outcome. Votes: 0

Young women don't want to be called feminists because it's not sexy and ah they think that their mothers and grandmothers have achieved everything they want. They don't know how poor women live, how women in rural places live, how 80 percent of women in the world are the poorest of the poor, how still there are 27 million slaves, and most of them women and girls. Votes: 0

In my private circle I am a mother, grandmother, wife, friend, daughter... the success means nothing to my small tribe. Votes: 0

You are my angel and my damnation; in your presence I reach divine ecstasy and in your absence I descent to hell. Votes: 0

Nice people with common sense do not make interesting characters. They only make good former spouses. Votes: 0

No complaining about how hard it is to write, we are all so, so lucky to write, to sit down, inside, and write words on paper. There is no greater freedom, no greater good, nothing that brings more joy. Votes: 0

if we don't begin by imagining the perfect society, how shall we create one? Votes: 0

We only have what we give. Votes: 0

He was not oppressed by a crowd because in the midst of all the hullabaloo he always found a quiet place for his soul. Votes: 0

Lo puedo leer en tus ojos, vienes de una noche de amor. Votes: 0

Zacharie did not learn of the sorrow his wife was living becasue she was careful to hide it. Tete kept that first love, the stromngest in her life, a secret. She mentioned it only rarely because she could not offer Zacharie a passion of the same intensity; the relationship they shared was genntle and free of urgency. Votes: 0

She regretted nothing she had shared with her lover, nor was she ashamed of the fires that had changed her life; just the opposite, she felt that they had tempered her, made her strong, given her pride in making decisions and paying the consequences for them. Votes: 0

He missed his venerable master, who had marked him forever with a thirst for knowledge as persistent as the drunk's thirst for alcohol or the ambitious man's thirst for power. He no longer had his mentor's library or his inexhaustible fount of experience. Votes: 0

He understood then that all his exploits as a reporter, the feats that had won him such recognition and fame, were merely an attempt to keep his most ancient fears at bay, a stratagem for taking refuge behind a lens to test whether reality was more tolerable from that perspective. Votes: 0

our demons lose their power when we pull them out of the depths where they hide and look them in the face in broad daylight. Votes: 0

Courage is a virtue appreciated in a male but considered a defect in our gender. Bold women are a threat to a world that is badly out of balance, in favor of men. Votes: 0

At times I felt that the universe fabricated from the power of imagination had stronger and more lasting contours than the blurred realm of the flesh-and-blood creatures around me. Votes: 0

Of all fragrances, the sweetest is that of virtue. Votes: 0

Nations should be governed by a council of learned men who must answer to the people for their actions. Votes: 0

How many times have I told you not to believe everything you hear? Seek truth for yourself. Votes: 0

How accommodating love is; it forgives everything. Votes: 0

If you write nonfiction, a historical account of what really happened, first of all, it's always white men who do that, and you don't have the voices that are really interesting to me, of the people who are not sheltered by the big umbrella of the establishment. Votes: 0

I was a political refugee living in Venezuela. I had a job that was twelve hours a day, no money. It was a hard time. Votes: 0

You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend, or not. Votes: 0

I seek truth and beauty in the transparency of an autumn leaf, in the perfect form of a seashell on the beach, in the curve of a woman's back, in the texture of an ancient tree trunk, but also in the elusive forms of reality. Votes: 0

My mother is a great artist, but she always treated her paintings like minor postcards. Had she pursued it, she would have been a great artist. Instead, she looked down on her art. Votes: 0

The longer I live, the more uninformed I feel. Only the young have an explanation for everything. Votes: 0

In Venezuela, when I was living there, crime was growing. You couldn't feel safe anywhere. You couldn't leave your car in the street because it would be stolen. You coun't live in your house if you didn't have a high-security alarm system, because you would be burglarized seven times a week. Votes: 0

The fact that I am a writer comes from the experience of being cut away from my roots and living in Venezuela, where I couldn't find a place for myself, for years and years. Votes: 0

I never had time to think about my beliefs until my 28-year-old daughter Paula fell ill. She was in a coma for a year, and I took care of her at home until she died in my arms in December of 1992. Votes: 0

I was not supposed to be in any way a liberated person. I was a female born in the '40s in a patriarchal family; I was supposed to marry and make everyone around me happy. Votes: 0

I've been a foreigner for the past twenty years. I don't have roots anymore. My roots are in my memory and my writing. That's why memory is so important. Who are you but what you can remember? Votes: 0

So firm did Nivea's determination become that she wrote in her diary that she would give up marriage in order to devote herself completely to the struggle for women's suffrage. She was not aware that such a sacrifice would not be necessary, and that she would marry a man for love who would back her up in her political goals. Votes: 0

I'm open to love, and I think that I will fall in love with a wonderful man. Votes: 0

I confess that I am a messy, disorganized and impatient reader: if the book doesn't grab me in the first 40 pages, I abandon it. I have piles of half-read books waiting for me to get acute hepatitis or some other serious condition that would force me to rest so that I could read more. Votes: 0

In 2011, I announced that I was going to retire, and my agent panicked. So she says: 'No, no, no. You have to write a book with your husband.' My husband is a writer of crime novels. His name is William Gordon. And so I had to accommodate to his style because that's what he writes. So we decided we'd give it a try. Well, we almost divorced. Votes: 0

A memoir is my version of events. My perspective. I choose what to tell and what to omit. I choose the adjectives to describe a situation, and in that sense, I'm creating a form of fiction. Votes: 0

I have travelled all over the world and one thing that amazes me is that I can communicate with people. My story may be different but emotionally we are all the same. Votes: 0

I am an American citizen and it is my home now. I like the U.S.A., which is not a place too many people have liked since Bush. The U.S. has a young population, and everything can change within a year. Votes: 0

Feminism has never been sexy, but let me assure you that it never stopped me from flirting, and I have seldom suffered from lack of men. Votes: 0

The pain of losing my child was a cleansing experience. I had to throw overboard all excess baggage and keep only what is essential. Votes: 0

The pain of losing my child was a cleansing experience. I had to throw overboard all excess baggage and keep only what is essential. Because of Paula, I don't cling to anything anymore. Now I like to give much more than to receive. Votes: 0

Feminism is not dead, by no means. It has evolved. If you don't like the term, change it, for Goddess' sake. Call it Aphrodite, or Venus, or bimbo, or whatever you want; the name doesn't matter, as long as we understand what it is about, and we support it. Votes: 0

I'm very optimistic because I think that the real strength of a nation like the United States comes from blending cultures. There's no way that you can close the frontiers anywhere. The borders are there to be violated permanently. Votes: 0

At five I was already a feminist, and nobody used the word in Chile yet. Votes: 0

Many fiction writers write for the critics or for themselves; they forget the common reader. I never do. I don't think journalism clashes with my fiction; on the contrary, it helps enormously. Votes: 0

A memoir is an invitation into another person's privacy. Votes: 0

I love fiction because in fiction you go into the thoughts of people, the little people, the people who were defeated, the poor, the women, the children that are never in history books. Votes: 0

I don't read thrillers, romance or mystery, and I don't read self-help books because I don't believe in shortcuts and loopholes. Votes: 0

All summer, I read fiction because you must read for the pleasure and beauty of it, and not only for research. I don't read thrillers, romance or mystery, and I don't read self-help books because I don't believe in shortcuts and loopholes. Votes: 0

I have not changed; I am still the same girl I was fifty years ago and the same young woman I was in the seventies. I still lust for life, I am still ferociously independent, I still crave justice, and I fall madly in love easily. Votes: 0

Men's memoirs are about answers; women's memoirs are about questions. Most male authors want to look good in their memoirs and have a place in posterity, while most women know that posterity is what happens when you no longer care. Women want to connect with others here and now; they couldn't care less about legacy! Votes: 0

I never try to convey a message, I just want to tell a story. Why that story in particular? I have no idea, but I have learned to surrender to the muse. I become obsessed with a theme or with certain stories; they haunt me for years, and finally, I write them. Votes: 0

I have a foot here and a foot in some spirit world. There are many more layers to reality, and that permeates my life and my writing in a very natural way. I don't even think about it. Votes: 0

My desk is like a 'U,' so I have my computer and lots of dictionaries because I write in Spanish and I live in English. Votes: 0

We want a world where life is preserved, and the quality of life is enriched for everybody, not only for the privileged. Votes: 0

The world starts to exist, for Americans, when we are in conflict with a place. And then all of a sudden, Afghanistan pops up on the TV screen and it becomes a place. And it exists for three weeks, and then it disappears into thin air. Votes: 0

If I had to choose between a relative and a good story, I would take the story. Votes: 0

If I can write it, I can cope. And I've been writing many books, but in every book, I try to explore something in my own soul that I need to solve, I need to understand. Votes: 0

A man who cooks is very sexy. A woman who cooks is not that sexy. Because it's associated in our mind to the domestic cliche of the woman. Votes: 0

I've been a story-teller all my life but I realized it only recently. Votes: 0

I write a letter to my mother every day, because in that letter, I write down my day. And if I don't write it down, then tomorrow I will forget it and it's gone. Votes: 0

I don't think the world will destroy itself in a nuclear cataclysm. On the contrary, we have the capacity to save ourselves and save the planet, and we will use it. Votes: 0

I think that any writer who is commercial, who sells a lot of books, has to face criticism. Because the more hermetic and the more difficult your book is, supposedly it's better. Votes: 0

Everything I write has to be connected to my life. One of the things that always comes up in my writing is the search for freedom, especially in women. Votes: 0

I like Hillary Clinton a lot. I know her. Votes: 0

I speak English and Spanish. I write in Spanish; my books are published in English. Votes: 0

Many children fly like birds, guess other people's dreams, and speak with ghosts, but ... they all outgrow it when they lose their innocence. Votes: 0

It is a wonderful truth that things we want most in life-a sense of purpose, happiness and hope-are most easily attained by giving them to others. Votes: 0

Heart is what drives us and determines our fate. Votes: 0

Friendship is all about trust and sharing. Passionate and romantic love is all about sex and emotions. You have to try to combine those, I think. The great marriages, the great couples I know, have both. Votes: 0

We all have an unsuspected reserve of strength inside that emerges when life puts us to the test. Votes: 0

Reading is like looking through several windows which open to an infinite landscape....For me life without reading would be like being in prison, it would be as if my spirit were in a straightjacket; life would be a very dark and narrow place. Votes: 0

You only have what you give. It's by spending yourself that you become rich. Votes: 0

Writing is like making love. Don't worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process. Votes: 0

You spend the first part of your life collecting things ... and the second half getting rid of them. Votes: 0

Accept the children the way we accept trees"”with gratitude, because they are a blessing"”but do not have expectations or desires. You don't expect trees to change, you love them as they are. Votes: 0

Write what should not be forgotten. Votes: 0

Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. Votes: 0

Sisters: talk to each other, be connected and informed, form women's circles, share your stories, work together, and take risks. Together we are invincible. Votes: 0

Every time I asked a question, that magnificent teacher, instead of giving the answer, showed me how to find it. She taught me to organise my thoughts, to do research, to read and listen, to seek alternatives, to resolve old problems with new solutions, to argue logically. Above all, she taught me not to believe anything blindly, to doubt, and to question even what seemed irrefutably true, such as man's superiority over woman, or one race or social class over another. Votes: 0

Writing is a process, a journey into memory and the soul. Votes: 0

I had a very rough childhood and not a happy one and by age 15 I was an old person in many ways. I knew that I had to take care of myself, I um and I always did. Votes: 0

A man does what he can; a woman does what a man cannot. Votes: 0

In terrible moments, in moments of revolution, of war or repression, of illness or death, people react with incredible strength. Votes: 0

What is truer than truth? Answer: the story. Votes: 0

...when everything else fails, we communicate in the language of the stars Votes: 0

We don't have an explanation for everything that happens. We don't control almost anything. And if we are not open to that mystery, life becomes so small. Votes: 0

Having a point to start is important. You know that when you decide to write something it's like a commitment. It's like falling in love. Votes: 0

My female protagonist will not be this promiscuous, beautiful, dark-haired, thin lady. It will be a plump, blond, healer and so forth. Votes: 0

I need to tell a story. It's an obsession. Each story is a seed inside of me that starts to grow and grow, like a tumor, and I have to deal with it sooner or later. Votes: 0

The fear is not real, Dil Bahadur; it is only in your mind, like all other things. Our thoughts form what we believe to be reality. Votes: 0

The source of my difficulties has always been the same: an inability to accept what to others seems natural, and an irresistible tendency to voice opinions no one wants to hear . . . Votes: 0

My name is Eva, which means 'life,' according to a book of names my mother consulted. I was born in the back room of a shadowy house, and grew up amidst ancient furniture, books in Latin, and human mummies, but none of those things made me melancholy, because I came into the world with a breath of the jungle in my memory. Votes: 0

Words are not that important when you recognize intentions. Votes: 0

The first few months of my life of every year are in total retreat. I don't see anybody except my husband and my dog, I don't talk to anybody, and I just write. Votes: 0

Erotica is using a feather; pornograpy is using the whole chicken. Votes: 0

The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night. Votes: 0

If I write something, I fear it will happen, and if I love too much, I fear I will lose that person; nevertheless, I cannot stop writing or loving... Votes: 0

They could not understand the advantage of living contrary to their inclinations in this world in order to enjoy a hypothetical well-being in another. Votes: 0

Most people feel younger than their age, but the culture values youth, success, beauty, productivity. There is no space in this culture for older people. Votes: 0

Affection is like the noonday sun; it does not need the presence of another to be manifest. Votes: 0

Memory is fiction. We select the brightest and the darkest, ignoring what we are ashamed of, and so embroider the broad tapestry of our lives. Votes: 0

In my book tours I get to meet an audience every night. And I see that there are mostly young people, and there are a lot of more men than before, but always young, I don't get older men. As I'm getting older, my audience gets younger! Votes: 0

The fastest-growing population in the United States is the older people, because we are living much longer, healthier lives. The problem is, individuals often don't have the resources to take care of older people as they age. This is something that is happening, and we have to deal with it. It was happening also in my life. Votes: 0

Now of course we have Black historians, but they're usually men. We get the perspective always, the slanted perspective, of what has happened. The battles, the things achieved, the laws, but where are the people, the families? What happens inside the houses, inside the minds and the hearts? That's what I'm interested in. Votes: 0

The idea of the book [Japanes Lover] came in a conversation that I had with a friend walking in the streets of New York. We were talking about our mothers, and I was telling her how old my mother was, and she was telling me about her mother. Her mother was Jewish, and she said that she was in a retirement home and that she had had a friend for 40 years that was a Japanese gardener. This person had been very important in my friend's upbringing. Votes: 0

I don't want posterity, I don't want anybody to remember me in any way. I don't care about that because I'll be dead. I think the spirit will move to some other state. Votes: 0

If you write nonfiction, a historical account of what really happened, first of all, it's always White men who do that and you don't have the voices that are really interesting to me, of the people who are not sheltered by the big umbrella of the establishment. Votes: 0

How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak? Votes: 0

As my Popo used to say, life is a tapestry we weave day by day with threads of different colors, some heavy and dark, others thin and bright, all the threads having their uses. The stupid things I did are already in the tapestry, indelible, but I'm not going to be weighed down by them till I die. What's done is done; I have to look ahead. Votes: 0

Give, give, give-what is the point of having experience, knowledge or talent if I don't give it away? Votes: 0

you can tell the deepest truths with the lies of fiction Votes: 0

Writing is a constant exercise in longing. Votes: 0

Nothing's as dangerous as power with impunity. Votes: 0

The last time I was in Chile, I was hypnotized by a friend who is studying to be a curandero, a healer, who led me back through several incarnations. It wasn't easy to return to the present, however, since my friend hadn't reached that part of the course, but the experiment was well worth the effort because I discovered that in former lives I was not Genghis Khan, as my mother believes. Votes: 0

Catholics form a majority in Chile, although there are more and more Evangelicals and Pentacostals who irritate everyone because they have a direct understanding with God while everyone else must pass through the priestly bureaucracy. Votes: 0

True friendship resists time, distance and silence. Votes: 0

I need to remember to overcome. Votes: 0

I learned very quickly that when you emigrate, you lose the crutches that have been your support; you must begin from zero, because the past is erased with a single stroke and no one cares where you're from or what you did before. Votes: 0

I'm not above anybody. I'm, I'm not better than anybody. I am made of the same material that everybody else is and if somebody can be a saint, so can I and if somebody can be a torturer, so can I. Votes: 0

She was one of those people who was born for the greatness of a single love, for exaggerated hatred, for apocalyptic vengance, and for the most sublime forms of heroism but she was unable to shape her fate to the dimensions of her amorous vocation, so it was lived out as something flat and gray trapped between her mother's sickroom walls, wretched tenements, and the tortured confessions with which this large, opulent, hot-blooded woman made for maternity, abundance, action, and ardor- was consuming herself. Votes: 0

When I started working in a feminist feminine magazine all my life was about rebelling against male authority, which is authority in general is male, so it was rebelling against everything. Everything that was around me made me angry. Votes: 0

I was born in the middle of the Second World War when the United States dropped their atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when millions of people were dying in concentration camps, when half the planet were colonies that belonged to empires. The word feminism didn't exist. And in my lifetime I have seen all these things improved, changed. We are more connected, more informed. We can fight against stuff together in ways we couldn't before. Votes: 0

Women are the only ones who will be able to eliminate the patriarchy, and when that happens all of us will win, men as much as women. Votes: 0

Conceit is a privilege of the ignorant; the wise man is humble because he knows how little he knows. Votes: 0

She never imagined a scenario in which her love was not returned with the same depth of feeling, for to her it was impossible to believe that a love of such magnitude could have stunned only her. The most elementary logic and justice indicated that somewhere in the city he was suffering the same delicious torment. Votes: 0

A novel is achieved with hard work, the short story with inspiration. Votes: 0

Land is something one should never sell. It is the only thing left when all else is gone Votes: 0

We live in an era where masses of people come and go across a hostile planet, desolate and violent. Refugees, emigrants, exiles, deportees. We are a tragic contingent. Votes: 0

I don't think of literature as an end in itself. It's just a way of communicating something. Votes: 0

Fiction happens in the womb. It doesn't get processed in the mind until you do the editing. Votes: 0

My grandfather was dying, and told the family he had decided to die. ... At that moment I wanted so badly to write and tell him that he was never going to die, that somehow he would always be present in my life, because he had a theory that death didn't exist, only forgetfulness did. He believed that if you can keep people in your memory, they will live forever. That's what he did with my grandmother. Votes: 0

We need a global approach to this from all sides. We need to educate people, we need the scientists to create new technologies, we need the engineers to create the networks, we need every human being to be aware of how precious water is and save it. Everybody has to be involved in a very firm and assertive way. Votes: 0

A book is not an end in itself; it is only a way to touch someone - a bridge extended across a space of loneliness and obscurity - and sometimes it is a way of winning other people to our causes. Votes: 0

Those who seek the truth run the risk of finding it. Votes: 0

The first two, three, four weeks are wasted. I just show up in front of the computer. Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn't show up invited, eventually she just shows up. Votes: 0

Barrabas came to us by the sea. Votes: 0

My son, the Holy Church is on the right, but Jesus Christ was always on the left. Votes: 0

Today's girls are tomorrow's women - and leaders. Votes: 0

my husband, who is a lawyer, is very careful with words and with the truth. He thinks that the truth exists, and it's something that is beyond questioning, which I think is totally absurd. I have several versions of how we met and how wonderful he was and all that. At least twenty. And I'm sure that they are all true. He has one. And I'm positive that it's not true. Votes: 0

We are too connected. There's noise in our heads all the time. Votes: 0

Every person is born with a talent, and happiness depends on discovering that talent in time ... Votes: 0

Aphrodite is about lust and gluttony - the only two sins worth committing, in my opinion. Votes: 0

Everyone is born with some special talent ... Votes: 0

After fifty most of the bullshit is gone. Votes: 0

I come from the so-called Third World (what is the Second)? Votes: 0

Write to register history, and name each thing. Write what should not be forgotten. Votes: 0

At times I felt that the universe fabricated from the power of the imagination had stronger and more lasting contours than the blurred realm of the flesh-and-blood creatures around me. Votes: 0

A novel is like a window, open to an infinite landscape. Votes: 0

I began to wonder whether anything truly existed, whether reality wasn't an unformed and gelatinous substance only half-captured by my senses....If that were true, each of us was living in absolute isolation. The thought terrified me. I was consoled by the idea that I could take that gelatin and mold it to create anything I wanted...At times I felt that the universe fabricated from the power of the imagination had stronger and more lasting contours than the blurred realm of the flesh-and-blood creatures around me. Votes: 0

After a few months without writing, months I've lived turned outward... I fear going deaf, not being able to hear the silence. Votes: 0

Heroism is a badly remunerated occupation, and often it leads to an early end, which is why it appeals to fanatics or persons with an unhealthy fascination with death. Votes: 0

He realized...that the loudest are the least sincere, that arrogance is a quality of the ignorant, and that flatterers tend to be vicious. Votes: 0

It is common knowledge that no man that women flock to boasts of his conquests. Those who do, lie. Votes: 0

The names of persons and living creatures demand respect, because when we speak to them we touch their heart and become a part of thier life force. Votes: 0

His lifetime was less than a fraction of a second in infinity. Or maybe he did not even exist; maybe human beings, the planets, everything in Creation were a dream...an illusion. He smiled with humility when he remembered... Votes: 0

Perhaps we are in this world to search for love, find it and lose it, again and again. With each love, we are born anew, and with each love that ends we collect a new wound. I am covered with proud scars. Votes: 0

He had only to touch me to turn my tears into sighs and my anger to desire. How accomodating love is; it forgives everything. Votes: 0

That was a good time in my life, in spite of having the sensation of floating on a cloud, surrounded by both lies and things left unspoken. Occasionally I thought I glimpsed the truth, but soon found myself once again lost in a forest of ambiguities. Votes: 0

Just as when we come into the world, when we die we are afraid of the unknown. But the fear is something from within us that has nothing to do with reality. Dying is like being born: just a change. Votes: 0

I have been a woman for 46 years and I only recently realized I can't change it and I like it. Votes: 0

I try to let go of the intellect and just tell the story. I only read the page I have in front of me on the screen. Then when the whole story is told, I print it, wait a week and read it. Votes: 0

I have a hundred-year-old aunt who aspires to sainthood, and whose only wish has been to go into the convent, but no congregation, not even the Little Sisters of Charity, could tolerate her for more than a few weeks, so the family has had to look after her. Believe me, there is nothing so insufferable as a saint, I wouldn't sic one on my worst enemy. Votes: 0

Seated by her side in the narrow cabin, pressing cold compresses to her forehead and holding her while she vomited, he felt profoundly happy.... Votes: 0

...a fixation is very stubborn: it burrows into the brain and breaks the heart. There are many fixations, but love is the worst. Votes: 0

Music is a wind that blows away the years, memories, and fear, that crouching animal I carry inside me. Votes: 0

And I am not one of those women who trips twice over the same stone. Votes: 0

Just as Daniel Balalcazar said, it makes no sense to suffer in advance a misfortune that may never occur. Votes: 0

As I travel through life, I gather experiences that lie imprinted on the deepest strata of memory, and there they ferment, are transformed, and sometimes rise to the surface and sprout like strange plants from other worlds. What is the fertile humus of the subconscious composed of? Why are certain images converted into recurrent themes in nightmares or writing? Votes: 0

Happiness is pure kitch; we come into the world to suffer and learn. Votes: 0

Be careful what you ask of Heaven; it might be granted. Votes: 0

Until a few months ago we had a code of honor, and even the worst ruffians behaved with decency. You could leave your gold in a tent with no guard and no one would touch it, but now all that has changed. The law of the jungle rules, the only ideology is greed. Don't let yourself be parted from your weapons, and always travel in pairs or groups, because this is a land of thieves. Votes: 0

I try desperately to conquer the transitory nature of my existence, to trap moments before they evenesce, to untangle the confusion of my past. Every instant disappears in a breath and immediately becomes the past; reality is ephemeral and changing, pure longing. Votes: 0

There is room in the human heart for all the divinities. Votes: 0

The two moments are much alike: birth and death are made of the same fabric. Votes: 0

But I don't want more things than I need, either. Votes: 0

She intended to swallow the world and he lived crushed by reality. Votes: 0

I have seen these persons speak unthinkingly, not realizing that to speak is also to be. Word and gesture are man's thought. We should not speak without reason. Votes: 0

We've lost our sense of ethics; we live in a world of small-mindedness, of gratification without happiness and actions without meaning. Votes: 0

The slave who dances is free ... while he is dancing. Votes: 0

Remember that all the others are more afraid than you Votes: 0

Each of us chooses the tone for telling his or her own story. I would like to choose the durable clarity of a platinum print, but nothing in my destiny possesses the luminosity. I live among diffuse shadings, veiled mysteries, uncertainties; the tone of telling my life is closer to that of a portrait in sepia. Votes: 0

January 8 has been a lucky day for me. I have started all my books on that day, and all of them have been well received by the readers. I write eight to ten hours a day until I have a first draft, then I can relax a little. I am very disciplined. I write in silence and solitude. I light a candle to call inspiration and the muses, and I surround myself with pictures of the people I love, dead and alive. Votes: 0

write with honesty and don't worry about the feelings of others, because no matter what you say, they'll hate you anyway. Votes: 0

"‹Courage is a virtue appreciated in a male but considered a defect in our gender. Bold women are a threat to a world that is badly out of balance, in favor of men. Votes: 0

Nothing changes; we humans repeat the same sins over and over, eternally. Votes: 0

It bothers them that instead of taking on the role of abandoned lover, I have become a happy wife. They relish seeing strong women like you and me humiliated. They cannot forgive us that we triumphed where so many others fail...Courage is a virtue appreciated in a male but considered a defect in our gender. Bold women are a threat to a world that is out of balance, in favor of men. That is why they work so hard to mistreat and destroy us. Votes: 0

My father says that fear is good; it's the body's alarm system, it warns us of danger. But sometimes danger can't be avoided, and then you have to forget about being afraid. Votes: 0

I felt an unrelenting restlessness. It was the first time I had ever experienced jealousy, and that emotion clung to my skin day and night like a dark stain, a contamination I could not shed; it became so unbearable that when finally I rid myself of it, I was freed forever of the desire to possess another person or the temptation ever to belong to anyone. Votes: 0

When love exists, nothing else matters, not life's predicaments, not the fury of the years, not a physical winding down or scarcity of opportunity. Votes: 0

There is no light without shadow, just as there is no happiness without pain. Votes: 0

Love is a free contract that begins with a spark and can end the same way. Votes: 0

Youth is not a period in life but a state of mind. Votes: 0

Everyone in his place and a place for everyone. Votes: 0

You have the health you deserve. Votes: 0

I was a lousy journalist. I could never be objective. Sometimes I invented the whole story. Votes: 0

When a man's earning his living doing things he doesn't like, he feels like a slave; when he's doing what he loves, he feels like a prince. Votes: 0

When you tell a story in the kitchen to a friend, it's full of mistakes and repetitions. It's good to avoid that in literature, but still, a story should feel like a conversation. It's not a lecture. Votes: 0

Society decides when we get old. But the spirit never ages. Votes: 0

Real soup is to the body what peace is to the soul. Votes: 0

Someone has said that conversation is sex for the soul. Votes: 0

The writer of good will carries a lamp to illuminate the dark corners. Votes: 0

When you make an omelet, as when you make love, affection counts for more than technique. Votes: 0

With women the best aphrodisiac is words. Votes: 0

Writers speak for those who are kept in silence Votes: 0

Love is music, and sex is only the instrument ... Votes: 0

This is to assuage our conscience, darling" she would explain to Blanca. "But it doesn't help the poor. They don't need chartiy; they need justice. Votes: 0

sex is the instrument and love the music ... Votes: 0

My worst flaw is that I tell secrets, my own and everybody else's. Votes: 0

Wishes and fears are illusions, Dil Bahadur, not realities. You must practice detachment. Votes: 0

fiction happens in the belly, it doesn't happen in the brain. Votes: 0

All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them. Votes: 0

There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them. Votes: 0

Boredom, Timothy Duane assured me, is nothing more than anger without passion. Votes: 0

You can't find someone who doesn't want to be found. Votes: 0

Cooking can be like foreplay. Votes: 0

At my age days dissolve like salt in water; the day's gone and I don't even know what I've done with the hours. Votes: 0

Photographs deceive time, freezing it on a piece of cardboard where the soul is silent. Votes: 0

His calls for justice were lost at the mercy of the wind and human indifference. Votes: 0

far away from my country I would be like those trees they chop down at Christmastime, those poor rootless pines that last a little while and then die. Votes: 0

I have learned many things in the 30 years that I have been writing. Votes: 0

If, for example, I saw my grandparents or my daughter for an instant, would I recognize them? Probably not, because in looking so hard for a way to keep them alive, remembering them in the most minimal details, I have been changing them, adorning them with qualities they may not have had. I have given them a destiny much more complex than the ones they lived. Votes: 0

People come from internally, from other places in the United States, but also displaced people from other parts of the world. They come here. If you walk in the streets of San Francisco, you hear all the languages. You smell all the foods. You listen to the music from everywhere. There's great diversity. Votes: 0

Some people connect with a story and may find between the lines something that might be useful to him or her, but that's not the intention of the author, I think. At least not mine. Votes: 0

I get hundreds of emails daily and a lot of feedback from people that are reading or have read my books. When I'm writing, or in my daily life, I just think of the work. I love to tell a story, but I might work with a story to make it the best I can without thinking of how many people will read it or if it will influence anybody. Votes: 0

You would give your life for your little baby. It's not the same when you are in a sexual relationship unless you feel that you are loved as you love. Votes: 0

The one that came really easy was the Japanese lover, because he's like a ghost in the book. He's always in the background like a spirit, like a shadow, almost. There's a very delicate line there. Votes: 0

Sometimes journalists ask me, "What's the message?" There is no message. I think that fiction should not be trying to give messages. Just tell a story. Votes: 0

I have a very acute sense of place and time, so all of my stories are rooted in a place and a time. Votes: 0

I'm not willing to sign a contract. They want everything. They want the rights to do the movie and everything else they can think of, forever. There's no limit to the contract. In this universe and universes to be discovered - I'm not making this up - this is in the contract. Votes: 0

When I fall in love I'm obsessed. Votes: 0

I went to a mystery writers conference ... and I learned a lot not only from the faculty - and in the faculty we had forensic doctors, detectives, policemen, experts in guns, etc. - but from the questions of the students. Votes: 0

I'm not a fan of mysteries, so to prepare for this experience of writing a mystery I started reading the most successful ones in the market in 2012. ... And I realized I cannot write that kind of book. It's too gruesome, too violent, too dark; there's no redemption there. Votes: 0

Only in romance novels or in thrillers people live outside of a social and political context. Votes: 0

I'm an expert. I can kill anybody and not be caught. Votes: 0

In 2011, I announced that I was going to retire, and my agent panicked. So she says: No, no, no. You have to write a book with your husband. Votes: 0

I'm always following the characters and I'm always interested in what happens to them, but what happens to them is conditioned by the circumstances in which they live. Votes: 0

I met a guy, very exotic to me - he was blonde with blue eyes - and I just had a fling that turned out to be love. I moved to San Francisco to spend a week with him and get him out of my system; I'm still here 26 years later. Votes: 0

I'm surrounded by young people. I'm always now the oldest and the shortest person in the room. Votes: 0

I carry around a little stool to stand on when people want a picture with their cellular phones. Votes: 0

We have all the technology to record things in the streets. Now the historians cannot twist it or change it, because we have cellular phones or video cameras, and we are filming in the streets what's going on. We have the voices of everybody recorded. There's too much recording and I think that's wonderful. Votes: 0

For women in my lifetime things have changed quite a bit, but not enough. They have only changed for women that have education and access to health care in the Western world. But look at the rest of the world. Still in many places, women are sold into premature marriages, prostitution, forced labor; they are forced to have children that they cannot support or that they don't want. They are abused, tortured, exploited and even killed with impunity. Votes: 0

I love my dog unconditionally, but never the man I'm sleeping with. Votes: 0

When my daughter Paula died, I was in the deepest pain, and my mother said, "This kind of sorrow is like a long, narrow, dark channel. You have to walk this channel alone and be sure that there is light at the other ending. Just keep walking." Votes: 0

It's such an intimate and profound relationship that it cannot be unconditional. I can only compare the intimacy of sex with the intimacy of the mother with a newborn baby. But with a newborn baby, it is unconditional. Votes: 0

Before I start writing, before I have an idea of where and when the story happens, I research it thoroughly. Votes: 0

More and more books are published every year. If people were not reading them, they wouldn't be published. We are now reading electronic books or whatever else, but people are still reading, and people still need stories. Votes: 0

At my age, people prefer to stay in a relationship that is not working. I do not understand that. I think it takes a lot of courage to separate. But it takes more energy to stay in something that is not working. Votes: 0

I'm surrounded by the scene of aging. I myself am in my 70s and not getting any younger. Although I'm very healthy, and I have a lot of energy, and I still feel 50, I'm over 70 and I understand that I am preparing for later. Votes: 0

Dying is not easy. It's a very hard transition. Votes: 0

I don't want to be looking inside my ego, my stuff, my achievements, my me, me, me, me, I hate that stuff. I just want to be out there eh to the last day of my life ah interested in the world, in causes, in helping other people. Um that doesn't mean that I don't have a spiritual practice, that I don't look at my own soul, that I don't prepare myself for the that transition that death is but I cannot sit in meditation to contemplate my navel for the rest of my life. That would be boring for me. Votes: 0

My mum said that as you age you have to smell good and be clean and don't hate anybody because that makes you older. Um I don't agree. I think that of course you have to smell good and be clean but there's much more that you have to do. Don't complain, exercise, be be strong, um work, be creative, be related to the world, have causes, fight for them passionately. I think all those things are important. I I'm not going to give up and just smell good. Votes: 0

I would like to be with my husband together sitting somewhere in a lonely place in the woods and take something, maybe some pills or something, a magic potion and die together. Votes: 0

It's good for a writer to come from journalism because it gives you the tools. A journalist knows that he or she can lose the reader in six lines, so try to keep the attention of the reader. Also, you learn to research, and to conduct an interview - to extract from the person whatever you need from that person. Votes: 0

Life is very mysterious and there are many things we don't know. And there are elements of magic realism in every culture, everywhere. It's just accepting that we don't know everything and everything is possible. Votes: 0

I see that in the future, things that we have lost in the past will be recovered. There's a search for those things, a search for spirituality, for nature, for the goddess religions, for family and human bonding. All that has been lost in this industrial era. People are in desperate need of those things. I don't think the world will destroy itself in a nuclear cataclysm. On the contrary, we have the capacity to save ourselves and save the planet, and we will use it. Votes: 0

Fear is like a black cavern that is terrifying. Once you enter the cavern and explore it, you realize that you can get out of it, go through it and get out of it. Then there's another cavern that is just as big and terrifying, and you just go in and dwell in it and see what is the worst that can happen. Votes: 0

The biggest straitjacket is all the prejudices that we carry around, and all the fears. But what if we just surrender to the fear? There are things greater than fear. The great, wonderful quality of human beings is that we can overcome even absolute terror, and we do. Votes: 0

Two thirds of the work in the world is done by women. Women own 1 percent of the assets. Young women are sold into prostitution, forced labour, premature marriage, forced to have children they don't want or they can't support. They're abused, raped, beaten up. Domestic violence is supposed to be a cultural problem. They are the first victims of war, fundamentalism, conflict, recession. And young women who have access to education and health care and have resources think that everything was done, they don't have to worry. Votes: 0

I don't think that we have to look like the models in the magazines because they are 19 year olds and they have been photo shopped extensively, not but given what I, we have as the raw material, take care of it. Votes: 0

I'm such a control freak. I want to control even my own death. Decide when I will die and how. Votes: 0

Women age more in company because they have more relationships. Men have buddies. They have acquaintances, they have comrades. Friends as women have, the friends that of the soul that you share everything, that you witness each other's lives, that you talk their, your, heart out, that you cry with, that you ask money when you need, that. Votes: 0

The success occurs in a place outside of me, and doesn't touch me on an intimate level. I live in my own skin, I have not changed greatly, I remain the same woman. Votes: 0

My books are based on emotions, feelings, relationships. In these areas women are experts, so it's not strange that the main characters of my novels are females. Votes: 0

What happens in the world affects me. Sometimes, that's part of the writing. Votes: 0

Everyone has a story, the air is full of stories. The creative process is mysterious, I don't know why it is that suddenly a theme will take hold of me and refuse to leave me in peace until I investigate it and write it. Votes: 0

We only appreciate what we have when we lose it. Votes: 0

I am very optimistic because I have seen the changes in my lifetime. I have seen the world change for the better. We always think that present times is terrible, that what's happening today, it was never worse, that the world is going in the most awful direction. But I think that the world that my grandchildren will have will be better than the one I had when I turned 20. Votes: 0

I do not put myself in a box and say, for instance, I'm writing post-colonial literature. I don't know what I'm writing. That's the business of professors and critics. My job is to tell a story, and that's it. Votes: 0

It's going to go away because we all need silence. We all need time to reflect and think. I am not at all pessimistic about this. Votes: 0

I feel that my life and therefore my writing accept the possibility of all the mystery. Everything we don't know; everything that can possibly happen. Votes: 0

In my lifetime, the world has become better, not worse. And the world is moving, very slowly but surely with more democracy and more liberal way of thinking, more inclusion and more diversity. Votes: 0

And the truth is that if a writer is successful, you gain readers. It benefits all the writers. It's important for all the writers that as many of us as possible be successful. Votes: 0

My books are written from personal experience, from memories, and from stories that come to me from all places. Votes: 0

The world starts to exist, for Americans, when we are in conflict with a place. And then all of a sudden, Afghanistan pops up on the TV screen and it becomes a place. And it exists for three weeks and then it disappears into thin air. Votes: 0

The world is a very unjust, unfair place and we have to live with that. Historically, there is impunity for most crimes. Votes: 0

I think that my life changed at 50. Many things happened. Menopause, the end of youth and my daughter died that year after being a whole year in a coma. So I think that I changed and I became an elder at 50. Votes: 0

The connection that I have with my readers makes me very happy, and gives meaning to the strange profession of writing Votes: 0

I think the spirit survives when we die, and nothing is wasted in nature and just as our material body disintegrates and becomes something else in the soil. The spirit becomes something else, reunites with a spiritual force that is out there in the universe. Not as individuals but as part of this spirituality. Votes: 0

One of the characteristics of North American culture is that you can always start again. You can always move forward, cross a border of a state or a city or a county, and move West, most of the time West. You leave behind guilt, past traditions, memories. You are as if born again, in the sense of the snake: You leave your skin behind and you begin again. For most people in the world, that is totally impossible. Votes: 0

I think I was a feminist before the word was invented. Votes: 0

The hardest thing of love is to let go. Votes: 0

The most poor and backward areas in the world are those in which women are subjugated and exploited. Improving the situation of the woman improves the family, the community, and by extension the whole country. Votes: 0

I don't want to die in pain or in an undignified way, I don't want any of the people I love to die in, die painfully. But I'm aware of the fact that they may die before I do and I have to part with them and take the loss. The hardest thing of love is to let go. But I think I can get let go of almost anybody. Votes: 0

I am very grateful for the success, because it has given me the freedom to write without pressure, in my own way, and has enabled me to maintain my family and educate my children and grandchildren, as well as to create a Foundation to empower women and girls. Votes: 0