“I read a lot, very passionately, from the time I was very young, but i...” — Andrea Barrett Quote

“I read a lot, very passionately, from the time I was very young, but it was a constant battle; my mother would more or less let me be, but with my father, I was always searching for a place where he wouldn't find me. Whenever he saw me reading, he would tell me to put the book down and go outside, act like a normal person.”

“I wanted to be a scientist. My undergraduate degree is in biology, and I really did think I might go off and be some kind of a lady Darwin someplace. It turned out that I'm really awful at science and that I have no gift for actually doing science myself. But I'm very interested in others who practice science and in the stories of science.”

“The city fought a $300 million, 18-year war on graffiti. New York Mayor John Lindsay declared war in 1972, and the battle for the transit system came later.”

“Freedom is a lonely battle, but if the United States doesn't lead it - sometimes imperfectly, but mostly with honor - who will?”

“If the chemistry between me and the artist is good, then that's half the battle.”