“Most often it is in heartache that we love more boldly.”

“Be the kind of grown up you needed as a child.”

“People say they walk on the shoulders of giants. True, but have you ever walked like one?”

“Be simple. Be direct. Be clear. Don't worry about being correct. Worry about being real.”

“Create something. Create something ugly. Create something beautiful. I don't care what it is. Create it.”

“A poem a day keeps the doctor away.”

“To create art with all the passion in one's soul is to live art with all the beauty in one's heart.”

“art is risk made visible”

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

“The best incentive for an artist are the harshest criticism”

“I have no idea how to be an artist and a lover, so I chose the one most likely to make me happy when I'm eighty and gazing back on a long and productive life.”

“Artists strive to free this true and spontaneous self in their work. Creativity, meditation are ways of freeing an inner voice.”

“Some experiences are universal. A girl is a girl whether she lives in West Omaha or Sweet Valley. Books are often far more than books.”

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,And all the sweet serenity of books”