“At that moment, the urge to be writing was stronger than any notion she had of what she might write.”

“… she felt about reading what some writers felt about writing: that it was impossible not to do it and that at this late stage of her life she had been chosen to read as others were chosen to write.”

“She thought a writer should work harder writing a book than she did reading it.”

“[Black Jade] had her lamp relit and began to compose a series of quatrains, writing them directly on the handkerchiefs that Pao-yu had sent. After writing three stanzas, she began to feel exhausted and feverish. Going to her mirror, she found her cheeks flushed as if they were afire. She thought nothing of it, but from that moment on, her illness entered a more critical stage.”

“She lives the poetry she cannot write.”

“She was a lucky woman who had established a happy knack of writing what quite a lot of people wanted to read.”

“Every novelist write what he or she needs to write, a subconscious compulsion to express and explain his unique view of reality.”

“On the project The Celts I was asked to … to write a song. And, at the time I was … arranging with Nicky, and writing the music and performing … so, no desire whatsoever to write lyrics!… But Roma was actually writing poetry at the time, and she was involved, with listening in the studio … being the audience in the studio … so she was involved with the project. So, it was very obvious that she would write the lyrics.”

“She gave her a reason to write her own words, to see that words had also brought her to life.
"Don't punish yourself," she heard her say again, but there would be punishment and pain, and there would be happiness, too. That was writing.”

“My urge to write is an urge not to self-expressionism but to self-transcendence. My work is both bigger and smaller than I am.”