I always think first about the nature of the story. When I had the idea for 'The Namesake,' I felt that it had to be a novel - it couldn't work as a story.

I don't know why, but the older I get the more interested I get in my parents' marriage. And it's interesting to be married yourself, too, because there is an inevitable comparison.

It didn't matter that I wore clothes from Sears; I was still different. I looked different. My name was different. I wanted to pull away from the things that marked my parents as being different.

In New York I was always so scared of saying that I wrote fiction. It just seemed like, 'Who am I to dare to do that thing here? The epicenter of publishing and writers?' I found all that very intimidating and avoided writing as a response.

If I stop to think about fans, or best-selling, or not best-selling, or good reviews, or not-good reviews, it just becomes too much. It's like staring at the mirror all day.

The most compelling narrative, expressed in sentences with which I have no chemical reaction, or an adverse one, leaves me cold.

I think the fundamental thing about writing fiction is that you write what interests you and what inspires you. It can't be forced. I see no need to write about anything else or any other type of world.

My reasons for coming to get married in Calcutta are complicated, and it's very hard to put it into a sentence. People ask me why. To me, it just felt like a very natural and exciting decision.

I had been learning Italian for years. I always loved Latin, but Italian is a living language; I'm writing in it now as well as reading it. It is so interesting delving further into language.

American? Indian? I don't know what these words mean. In Italy, it is all about blood, family, where you come from. I'm asked where I am from. I'm from nowhere; I always was, but now I am happy knowing it.

Almost any American can connect on some level to a family background of having come across some ocean. They say, 'My great-grandparents came from wherever... this is why we have this last name, why we do this thing at Christmas.' All the details get watered down but don't quite disappear.

It's hard to think of myself as an American, and yet I am not from India, a place where I was not born and where I have never lived.

I find it really liberating to be in a place where I am a foreigner in every way. I've lived with this all my life - this divide, this bifurcation. And in Italy, I don't feel it. There's none of that tension, only the expectation I place on myself to speak the language well. I find it relaxing. Something drops away, and I observe.

When I write in Italian - this is just the metaphor that came to me immediately, and I really think this is what it is - I feel like I'm writing with my left hand. Because of that weakness, there is this enormous freedom that comes with it.

I feel as though I've gotten to a point where I don't really want to set a book in any real place ever again.

I've always had this feeling wherever I go. Of not feeling fully part of things, not fully accepted, not fully inside of something.

Identity has been such an explosive territory for me... so hard, so painful at times.

I have very little choice. If I don't write, I feel dreadful. So I write.

I wish more Italian literature were translated and read in English. I've discovered so many extraordinary and diverse writers: Lalla Romano, Carlo Cassola. Beppe Fenoglio, Giorgio Manganelli, just to name a few.

I never want to deal with a book once I'm finished writing.

Education teaches us compassion and kindness, connection to others.

There's nothing that's more unfair or unjust than people using their power to try to make other people feel small, to tell them who they are or what they are capable of, to say their identity doesn't belong.

Teaching is not a job. It's a lifestyle. It permeates your whole life.

My students have shown me so many times that it's not always about being the perfect person in the perfect position - it's about showing up when you're needed.

Every day, women and girls are finding incredible confidence and taking risks. When they change one mind, pretty soon, they have changed one tradition. That changed tradition has changed a village. That one village has changed a country. That new reality means new opportunities for themselves and their daughters.

We know that education is the key to unlocking human potential.

I grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, with my parents and sisters, but my family would drive every weekend to Hammonton, where both my grandparents lived and where my parents were raised.

I have always had a great deal of respect and admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a true humanitarian and champion of Women's Rights and Civil Rights.

We can be proud of a president that brings families together instead of tearing them apart. A president who believes our best days are ahead of us. That's Joe Biden.

Education is possibility set in motion.

Education doesn't just make us smarter. It makes us whole.

Life is difficult, and if you sit around waiting for fun to show up, you'll find yourself going without it more often than not.

I've always believed you've got to steal the joyful moments when you can.

I had a number of part-time jobs after school in Willow Grove, but I did work for two summers in Ocean City as a waitress at Chris' Seafood Restaurant. I loved it.

I was a Senate spouse for many, many years. I kept my own career. I was teaching and Joe was doing politics. I realized when we were elected vice president that I had a platform and I knew I was not going to waste my platform. It was going to focus women and girls' education.

I have visited classrooms near military bases to learn more about what schools were doing to support their military kids. I met with teachers overseas to learn about the particular needs they face thousands of miles from America. And I listened to my own granddaughter, who dealt with her father's yearlong deployment to Iraq.

May God bless our troops.

Since Beau's death, I'm definitely shattered. I feel like a piece of china that's been glued back together again. The cracks may be imperceptible-but they're there. Look closely, and you can see the glue holding me together, the precarious edges that vein through my heart. I am not the same. I feel it every day.

Marrying Joe wasn't just about him. It was about Hunter and Beau as well. They had endured the loss of one mother already, and I couldn't risk having them lose another.

I'm not a politician. I am an English teacher.

Back in 2008, after we'd won the election, no one really expected me to keep teaching. But I couldn't just walk away... So I did both. For eight years, that was my life's dichotomy. State receptions - and midterms. Dinner with the most powerful man on earth - and study sessions with single moms.

Most women I know have been harassed in some way. And you never wanted to report it, because you were afraid of losing your job or you felt like, hey, did that just happen? I think it's good that women now... have the courage! Because it's not easy.

I'm good at separating things. When I'm in my classroom, I'm totally there. When I'm at an event, I'm totally there. And when I'm with my grandkids, my total attention is on them.

It sounds so trite to say I make a difference, but I really feel, especially in a community college, I can make a difference.

We've seen the struggle, and we know that most American families are dealing with some sort of struggle like we are. And I think they can relate to us, you know, as parents who are hopeful and are supportive of our son, and we will continue to be supportive. And I think that makes us more empathetic about helping other Americans.

When students come to the community college, they're focused. They know what they want to do, and they have a certain amount of time to do it.

Well, I'm a runner, and I have to run with Secret Service - even though they can run twice as fast. It took me a while to get used to running with them, because I love the solitary aspect of it. So I have two rules. First, I can't hear their feet. And second, I can't see their shadows.

I think I am a tough grader, because I feel like it's my job to teach them to write well. I hope my students say I'm a fair teacher.

Well, when I'm out running, people don't recognize me, which is great. I don't feel pressure; I'm not out to beat anybody or hit a certain time. I just do it for the enjoyment of it. I'm doing it for myself.

We can learn something from every single medical interaction. Every case, every patient has a lesson to teach us.