I'm a writer but I'm also a person in the world. I don't feel a terrible obligation to write a lot of books. (1988) - Grace Paley

One of the horses history rides is language. Fifteen years ago, maybe ten, in my fifties, I wouldn't have noticed the word mankind at all. And here in 1986, a six-year-old person heard the word in all its meaning. (1985)

Don’t you wish you could rise powerfully above your time and name? I’m sure we all try, but here we are, always slipping and falling down into them, speaking their narrow language, though the subject, which is how to save the world--and quickly--is immense.

If you I live long enough you really become patient. People improve. If they're already wonderful, they become slowly more wonderful.