Once we know of atrocities we cannot remain silent, and knowledge inevitably leads to an urge to protect the innocent.

Reality has become so intolerable, she said, so bleak, that all I can paint now are the colors of my dreams.

I am suddenly left alone again on the sunny path, with a memory of the rain.

If I turned towards books, it was because they were the only sanctuary I knew, one I needed in order to survive, to protect some aspect of myself that was now in constant retreat.

She was one of those people who are irrevocably, incurably honest and therefore both inflexible and vulnerable at the same time.

Poor reading, like poor writing, is imposing what you already know on texts. You should go into reading to discover, not to reaffirm what you know.

A good novel is one that shows the complexity of individuals, and creates enough space for all these characters to have a voice; in this way a novel is called democratic - not that it advocates democracy but that by nature it is so. Empathy lies at the heart of Gatsby, like so many other great novels - the biggest sin is to be blind to others' problems and pains. Not seeing them means denying their existence.