Paris was a universe whole and entire unto herself, hollowed and fashioned by history; so she seemed in this age of Napoleon III with her towering buildings, her massive cathedrals, her grand boulevards and ancient winding medieval streets - as vast and indestructible as nature itself.

Would that death were like this. Would that one would sleep and sleep and sleep forever.

I would have done just about anything for him.

Remember always, he said, that nothing is as precious to us as the magnificent gift of life. Let the moon and the stars always remind you of this-that though we are tiny creatures in this universe, we are filled with life.

I gave up on the big screen. The Witching Hour was at Warner Bros. for 10 years and it just didn't work out.

Whipping is fifty percent show and noise.

First-person narrators is the way I know how to write a book with the greatest power and chance of artistic success.