Quoting, like smoking, is a dirty habit to which I am devoted.

Shifting problems is the first rule for a long and pleasant life.

Whether deliberately, unconsciously or accidentally, she seems to have composed her own life so that its fitful, rudderless, and self-doubting first half was alchemized into gold when the austere bluestocking became the fallen woman.

We women have lived too much with closure: "If he notices me, if I marry him, if I get into college, if I get this work accepted, if I get this job" -- there always seems to loom the possibility of something being over, settled, sweeping clear the way for contentment. This is the delusion of a passive life. When the hope for closure is abandoned, when there is an end to fantasy, adventure for women will begin.

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

maturity ... is letting things happen.

Ideas move fast when their time comes.