Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I don't ever rest. It's a problem and hopefully something I will get a better handle on in the coming years.
It is deeply unfair to task writers of color with unique responsibilities that we don't assign to all writers.
Most of the serious disagreement I get comes through email or social media, where people are more comfortable.
I reject the idea that when young women make choices with which we disagree, they are acting without autonomy.
I recognize that I'm human, and the older I get, the more I realize how fallible I am, how fallible we all are.
Oftentimes, when a woman demands accountability, respect, or consideration, she is crazy or nagging or whatever.
In Haiti, beach bodies are simply bodies, and beach reads are simply books, because the beach is all around you.
I never imagined that I would be the kind of person who is recognized when I am out and about just living my life.
I don't want the whole of my writing or my intellectual energy given over to race because I have diverse interests.
People do terrible things all the time, but we don’t regularly disown our humanity. We disavow the terrible things.
The notion that I should be fine with the status quo even if I am not wholly affected by the status quo is repulsive.
Diversity in literature is, in part, about representation - who is telling the stories and who stories are told about.
It's disheartening that people think that Donald Sterling is the outlier and that he's the exception and not the rule.
My tweeting is cool and calm unless I am riled up about something and then I just surrender to the fury of my fingers.
I love writing fiction because I can totally lose myself and I get to make up the rules of the world that I'm writing.
Day after day with them, I see more and more of my parents in me. I see where all my quirks come from. I see my future.
If a woman wants to take her husband's name, that's her choice, and I still think she can be feminist while doing that.
Just write and love what you're writing. And if you're not loving what you're writing, take a look at why and fix that.
If you feel like it's hard to be friends with women, consider that maybe women aren't the problem. Maybe it's just you.
I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn’t make certain choices for ourselves.
I keep trying to imagine a universe in which too many public figures declaring themselves feminists would be a bad thing.
Public intellectuals are often put in the position of having their words, no matter how off-the-cuff, treated as doctrine.
So many of us are reaching out, hoping someone out there will grab our hands and remind us we are not as alone as we fear.
I look at my older writing to see where my weaknesses are and then I try to address those weaknesses and make new mistakes.
I love romantic comedies. I know how terrible they are, but I love them! And I don't think that makes me less of a feminist.
I am interested in intense, unbreakable emotional connections and oftentimes, such connections can be found between siblings.
People of color are not under any kind of obligation beyond working hard, doing their best, and learning from their mistakes.
Maybe true love isn't out there for me, but I can sublimate my loneliness with the notion that true love is out there for someone.
What is it like to be connected to someone you can never get away from, for better or worse? I love trying to answer that question.
Florida is a strange place: hot, beautiful, ugly. I love it here, and how nothing makes sense but still, somehow, there is a rhythm.
What worries me is that 'post-racial' America is not that different from the Americas that have preceded us, and it might not ever be.
We have this cultural obsession with work and productivity as if we're better people if we don't stop and take some time for ourselves.
I am a bad feminist and a good woman. I am trying to become better in how I think and say and do - without abandoning what makes me human.
There are all kinds of people who continue to be largely ignored by advertisers, whose lives largely go unseen. They deserve their moment.
Margaret Sanger didn't just introduce the idea of birth control into our culture at large, she freed women from indenture to their bodies.
I think Lena Dunham is a very bright and very interesting writer, and what she's accomplished at such a young age absolutely impresses me.
With my writing, I generally just pretend that no one's reading it. I allow myself that delusion so that I can write the things that I write.
You have to be consistent. You have to be yourself. You have to be committed to what you're doing. You have to not be afraid to be ambitious.
I write for myself, first and foremost and I also write for people, mostly women, who just want to be seen and heard and all too often aren't.
I like what the internet offers: the ability to get people interested in your mind, and have a chance if you're not conventionally attractive.
My dream was to write a book and see it published. I didn't dare imagine anything beyond that, so, I'm trying to keep my head on my shoulders.
Sex offers incredible narrative opportunities and so many emotions are tied up in sex. Also, I mean, the erotic is always a fun creative space.
This is the real problem feminism faces. Too many people are willfully ignorant about what the word means and what the movement aims to achieve.
For celebrities, privacy is utterly nonexistent. You are asked intrusive questions about your personal life. You can be photographed at any moment.
I don't read the comments anymore, unless they are moderated. Which is not to say censored, but I don't need to read someone saying, "You're ugly."
Want nothing but the best for your friends because when your friends are happy and successful, it's probably going to be easier for you to be happy.
I try to understand faith and religion. I was raised by wonderful Catholic parents who were deeply faithful and taught us that God is a God of love.
The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question, all of it is invigorating.
We bear witness to the worst of human brutality, retweet what we have witnessed, and then we move on to the next atrocity. There is always more atrocity.
Long walks on the beach are the supposed holy grail of a romantic evening. The beach becomes a kind of utopia - the place where all our dreams come true.