One of the lines from my books is about having respect for different minds, and if I had to have an epitaph at this point in my life, that would be it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I haven't written my own epitaph, and I'm not sure I should. Whatever it is, I hope it will be simple, and that it will point people not to me, but to the One I served.
We must guard against disrespectful, disparaging, and criticizing thoughts. We must try to practice reverence and devotion in our thinking at all times.
Let no man write my epitaph... When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then shall my character be vindicated, then may my epitaph be written.
In a novel, I could submerge my ego in a character's and let his perceptions take over.
If you live what you believe, you will always have the respect of others.
I don't want to find myself ever locked into what people think I should think or do. In my art, and acting, I have a universal vision of things, an international vision. Bigger and broader and beyond. 'Bigger than life' is always on my mind.
When I'm writing from a character's viewpoint, in essence I become that character; I share their thoughts, I see the world through their eyes and try to feel everything they feel.
My work is a self-portrait of my mind, a prism of my convictions.
It's not an epitaph. I felt I could look back at my life and get a good story out of it. It's a picture of somebody trying to figure things out. I'm not trying to create some impression about myself. That doesn't interest me.
One shouldn't write one's own epitaph. I hope people will remember me as one who did her best - and who wasn't an anachronism.