I don't think that most women have to prove that they're real women. You live long enough, you graduate to being real.

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

Short story characters, mine anyway, are usually driven by impulse, not so much by their histories and the choices that they have to make.

At its best, fiction is not a diversion but a means of knowing the world.

As my mother once said to me, ‘They’re quite crazy, dear – men are. What you look for is one of them whose insanity is large enough, and calm and generous enough, to include you.

Savor the imminent weirdness of the day.

You know, there's something heartsick about parties like this. Look at us. We're all pretending to be smart, as if intelligence were the cure for our anguish.