My mother learned that she was carrying me at about the same time the Second World War was declared; with the family talent for magic realism, she once told me she had been to the doctor's on the very day.

Is not this world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody.

In a world where women are commodities, a woman who refuses to sell herself will have the thing she refuses to sell taken away from her by force

Anxiety is the beginning of conscience, which is the parent of the soul but is not compatible with innocence.

It's every woman's tragedy, that, after a certain age, she looks like a female impersonator. Mind you, we've known some lovely female impersonators, in our time.

At the best of times, spring hurts depressives.

I drew the curtains to conceal the sight of my father's farewell; my spite was sharp as broken glass.