"To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone because of it."

"The vehemence with which certain critics have chosen not simply to criticize what I've written, but to challenge my writing this story at all, speaks of what the book is about: fear of disapproval."

"More than any other setting - more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel - I'll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy, tragedy and intrigue."

"Many women my age have known the experience of giving up crucial parts of themselves to please the man they love."

"I am a conservationist. It is in my DNA."

"In the name of Hippocrates, doctors have invented the most exquisite form of torture ever known to man: survival."

"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians."

"In the area we're discussing, leadership begins on Madison Avenue, on the desks and in the offices of people who spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying what will get them ratings."