There was a house we all had in common and it was called the past, even though we'd lived in different rooms.

A mother is always a mother, since a mother is a biological fact, whilst a father is a movable feast.

The notion of a universality of human experience is a confidence trick and the notion of a universality of female experience is a clever confidence trick.

And each stroke of his tongue ripped off skin after successive skin, all the skins of a life in the world, and left behind a nascent patina of shining hairs. My earrings turned back to water and trickled down my shoulders; I shrugged the drops off my beautiful fur.

How far does a pretence of feeling, maintained with absolute conviction, become authentic?

In a secular age, an authentic miracle must purport to be a hoax, in order to gain credit in the world.

Not many people can boast a photo of their grandmother posing for kiddiporn.