We are all tempted, Mma. We are all tempted when it comes to cake.

Our minds can come up with the most entertaining possibilities, if we let them. But most of the time, we keep them under far too close a check.

I am capable of being idle.

Regular maps have few surprises: their contour lines reveal where the Andes are, and are reasonably clear. More precious, though, are the unpublished maps we make ourselves, of our city, our place, our daily world, our life; those maps of our private world we use every day; here I was happy, in that place I left my coat behind after a party, that is where I met my love; I cried there once, I was heartsore; but felt better round the corner..., things of that sort, our personal memories, that make the private tapestry of our lives.

The previously unloved may find it hard to believe that they are now loved; that is such a miracle, they feel; such a miracle.

Any author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do.

Reality television, which turned its eye on people who were doing nothing but being themselves, was the perfect expression of this trend [of narcissism]. Let's look at ourselves, it said. Aren't we fascinating?