Male friends do not always face each other; they stand side by side, facing the world.

... success always worries academics, when it moves into the popular world.

A literary academic can no more pass a bookstore than an alcoholic can pass a bar.

as the years go on a sense of deep patience comes over one; one seems to know the virtue of ripeness, and the danger of rushing events.

As long as women are isolated one from the other, not allowed to offer other women the most personal accounts of their lives, they will not be part of any narratives of their own…women will be staving off destiny and not inviting or inventing or controlling it.

Ironically, women who acquire power are more likely to be criticized for it than are the men who have always had it.

Life has this in common with prizefighting: if you've received a belly blow, it's likely to be followed by a right to the jaw.