Society was nothing but a long, dull dinner party conversation in which one was forced to speak to one's partner on both the left and the right.

That's important to me, to recommend books.

I am a totally public person.

Sometimes not having any idea where we’re going works out better than we could possibly have imagined.

To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall .... [p.218 ff.]

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

Home, bed, sleep, mother--who knew more beautiful words than these?