There are moments when you feel free, moments when you have energy, moments when you have hope, but you can't rely on any of these things to see you through. Circumstances do that.

Writing has freed me from the despair of living.

Life... is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game. There tends to be unfinished business. One trails all sorts of things around with one, things that simply won't be got rid of.

That sun, that light had faded, and she had faded with them. Now she was as grey as the season itself.

I was brought up among the sort of self-important women who had a husband as one has an alibi.

Time misspent in youth is sometimes all the freedom one ever has.

You have no idea how promising the world begins to look once you have decided to have it all for yourself. And how much healthier your decisions are once they become entirely selfish.