I'm the kind of person that when I saw a lack of African Americans in the apparel business, that was something I set out to do, and I lead by example.
The history of American women is all about leaving home - crossing oceans and continents, or getting jobs and living on their own.
I'm not going to say that every record I've put out was the greatest record in history, but I'd stand by even the bad ones. Don't make excuses, make hits.
You don't know when you are immersed in a book what the reaction to it will be, but I feel great about 'The Lake of Dreams.'
I had a great life even before 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' took off. I really enjoy teaching.
The true genius of a great manager is his or her ability to individualize. A great manager is one who understands how to trip each person's trigger.
Many people are despairing of the possibility of finding love. And some of the people who are despairing the most are in their thirties and forties and looking just great.
There are some good songs, but not the kind of song-writing that I remember, that I like. Springsteen still does it. Paul Simon, and there are also good writers, but that doesn't dominate the charts.
The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world.
There are good leaders who actively guide and bad leaders who actively misguide. Hence, leadership is about persuasion, presentation and people skills.
And write what you love - don't feel pressured to write serious prose if what you like is to be funny.
Your understanding of a place changes the longer you stay; you discover more, and your own life gets woven into the fabric of the community.
In retrospect, it seems like everything in my life led to me becoming a writer. I just didn't realise it at the time.
The force that keeps the planets revolving around the sun would be glad to handle the circumstances of your life, if only you would ask him to.
Bending over backwards does not bring you the love and attention you crave, but having your own life, your own goals and a backbone will.
That image of the countryside being a threatening place still exists. People continue to resist the challenge of learning about aspects of life they don't understand.
Do you really wish to disobey me, Marbas? Do you wish to anger my father?
I listen to Radio 4 and put the iPod on shuffle. I like the randomness of, say, the Stones, then something from Nina Simone, Nick Drake or Bob Dylan.
This was a little house, with a ceiling that kept getting higher and higher, a hot place with no windows. This was anger.
At a certain point my novels set. They set just as hard as that jam jar. And then I know they are finished.
Sometimes Lennon needed McCartney and sometimes Simon needed Garfunkel. You'd go mad doing everything on your own.
