You think that what I've told you is an anecdote. But really it isn't. It's my whole life. It's the only story I have.

When readers don't like the book, it's usually because they feel that romantic love is pass or somehow needs more irony.

At least with pets, and for all I know, people too, intelligence and quick-wittedness have nothing to do with a talent for being loved, or being kind, nothing at all, less than nothing.

When you break the heart of the philosopher, you must apply great force and cunning strategy, but when the deed is completed, the heart lies in great stony ruin at your feet. If you succeed in breaking it, the job is done once and for all. It will not be repaired.

If you want to see the consequences of ideas, write a story. If you want to see the consequences of belief, write a story in which somebody is acting on the ideas or beliefs that she has.

I prefer short stories, but publishers would, of course, rather that writers produce novels, since novels are still more commercially viable.

As the poet says, all happy couples are alike, it's the unhappy ones who create the stories. I'm no longer a story. Happiness has made me fade into real life.