There are stages in bread-making quite similar to the stages of writing. You begin with something shapeless, which sticks to your fingers, a kind of paste. Gradually that paste becomes more and more firm. Then there comes a point when it turns rubbery. Finally, you sense that the yeast has begun to do its work: the dough is alive. Then all you have to do is let it rest. But in the case of a book the work may take ten years.
Marguerite YourcenarA touch of madness is, I think, almost always necessary for constructing a destiny.
Marguerite YourcenarA being afire with life cannot foresee death; in fact, by each of his deeds he denies that death exists.
Marguerite YourcenarThe true birthplace is that wherein for the first time one looks intelligently upon oneself; my first homelands have been books, and to a lesser degree schools.
Marguerite Yourcenar