"Let the churches preach doctrines, theories, philosophies to their hearts' content, but when it comes to worship, the real practical part of religion, it should be as Jesus says, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret"."

“After love, book collecting is the most exhilarating sport of all.”

“The overarching issue, as I see it, is the elitism of America's political system; the fact that regular, ordinary Americans aren't considered in policy debates or legislation, and regularly get shafted by the powers-that-be in Washington.”

Source : "Democratic Veteran". Interview with Jo Fish, June 23, 2003.

“Please tell me a story about a girl who gets away." I would, even if I had to adapt one, even if I had to make one up just for her. "Gets away from what, though?" "From her fairy godmother. From the happy ending that isn't really happy at all. Please have her get out and run off of the page altogether, to somewhere secret where words like 'happy' and 'good' will never find her." "You don't want her to be happy and good?" "I'm not sure what's really meant by happy and good. I would like her to be free. Now. Please begin.”

Source : Helen Oyeyemi (2010). “White is for Witching”, p.165, Pan Macmillan

“Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why.”

“Always shoot it now. It won't be the same when you go back.”

Source : Jay Maisel (2014). “Light, Gesture, and Color”, p.16, New Riders

“Life is a hurricane, and we board up to save what we can and bow low to the earth to crouch in that small space above the dirt where the wind will not reach. We honor anniversaries of deaths by cleaning graves and sitting next to them before fires, sharing food with those who will not eat again. We raise children and tell them other things about who they can be and what they are worth: to us, everything. We love each other fiercely, while we live and after we die. We survive; we are savages.”

“We had discovered an accursed country. We had found the Home of the Blizzard.”

Source : Douglas Mawson (2010). “The Home of the Blizzard: An Australian Hero's Classic Tale of Antarctic Discovery and Adventure”, p.88, Wakefield Press

“A man perceives himself as owning and being owned by a woman.”