I'm sure not afraid of success and I've learned not to be afraid of failure. The only thing I'm afraid of now is of being someone I don't like much.

I don't really read what people write about me. Someone gives my novel one star; are they a troll? Are they someone who hates my politics and so has decided to do that?

Maybe crazy is just the word we use for feelings that will not be contained.

She say guilt is a useless emotion." "Oh, please," says Nancy. "Guilt is what separates humans from animals.

In the same way the Brits had to get used to the idea that the sun had set on the British Empire, I think that there's the subrosa feeling that we are at the end of the American century, and I think that's very, very hard for Americans to take.

I remember adolescence, the years of having the impulse control of a mousetrap, of being as private as a safe-deposit box.

That's really what I want in a leader; I want somebody who's really, really smart.