"In writing The Invention of Wings, I was inspired by the words of Professor
Julius Lester, which I kept propped on my desk: "History is not just facts and
events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are
able to make another's pain in the heart our own.""
From an interview with the author:
"I had quotes on the walls of my stairway leading up to my study, and every day
I would read the quotes before before I started writing."
"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
Virginia Woolf
"If we had to say what writing is, we would have to define it essentially as an
act of courage."
Cynthia Ozick
And a quote that the author keeps on her desk to guide her:
Be Fearless on the page.