Most of us still caged within careers chosen for us by our not entirely worldly 18-22 year old selves.

At the heart of every frustration lies a basic structure: the collision of a wish with an unyielding reality.

The more familiar two people become, the more the language they speak together departs from that of the ordinary, dictionary-defined discourse. Familiarity creates a new language, an in-house language of intimacy that carries reference to the story the two lovers are weaving together and that cannot be readily understood by others.

The study of maps and the perusal of travel books aroused in me a secret fascination that was at times almost irresistible.

Happiness is impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.

I was uncomfortable writing fiction. My love was the personal essay rather than the novel.

The fear of saying something stupid (which stupid people never have) has censored far more good ideas than bad ones.