The evening passes somehow; I watch television with Nancy, or I write. It is difficult, not having a family, and it is difficult to explain. I always go to bed early. And I am always ready for Monday morning, that time that other people dread.

Death is only a small interruption.

All good fortune is a gift of the gods, and you don't win the favor of the ancient gods by being good, but by being bold.

Dr Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.

You can never betray the people who are dead.

One loses the capacity to grieve as a child grieves, or to rage as a child rages: hotly, despairingly, with tears of passion. One grows up, one becomes civilized, one learns one's manners, and consequently can no longer manage these two functions - sorrow and anger - adequately.

I am 46, and have been for some time past.