To use an electronics analogy, closing a book on a bookmark is like pressing the Stop button, whereas when you leave the book facedown, you've only pressed Pause.

Our view of reality is only a view, not reality itself.

Pen-bereavement is a serious matter.

If my father were still writing essays, every full-grown 'girl' would probably be transformed into a'woman'.

When I write after dark", observed Cyril Connolly, "the shades of evening scatter their purple through my prose

One reason we have children I think is to learn that parts of ourselves we had given up for dead are merely dormant and that the old joys can re emerge fresh and new and in a completely different form.

When I visit a new bookstore, I demand cleanliness, computer monitors, and rigorous alphabetization. When I visit a secondhand bookstore, I prefer indifferent housekeeping, sleeping cats, and sufficient organizational chaos.