Painters aren't expected to paint bleak pictures, are they?

We think the world is ours forever, but we are little more than squatters.

There are many women whose lives would be immeasurably improved by widowhood, but one should not always point that out.

Gracious acceptance is an art - an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.... Accepting another person's gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.

I cannot see myself in a new car. I am a tiny white van person. That is what i want!

I just focus on getting the first scene right, with a few lines about the overall plot, and then the book grows organically.

[Edinburgh] is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.