I met [my editor] in a bar where alcoholic beverages are served and I bought her one and I told her the idea. And she said that she liked it very much, which embarrassed me because I thought it meant that she was a lightweight and that in the morning, as so many women say to so many men, what seems like a good idea, you know, turns out not to be.

There are secrets everywhere. I think everyone's parents have secrets. You just have to know where to look for them.

One cannot spend forever sitting and solving the mysteries of oone's history.

Everything else has vanished, so you take them now. Maybe if you're the one keeping them, I'll be the one feeling better.

I can't imagine why you would want to take your child to see what the career of a writer is like, because it mostly consists of sitting in a room typing, or going to the library and looking something up. Those are not exciting things to watch.

Stretched out in front of me was my time as an adult, and then a skeleton, and then nothing except perhaps a few books on a few shelves.

There are few sights sadder than a ruined book.