If there’s one thing that makes a man sick, it’s to have his ale poured out of an ugly hand.

there's something about Paris that gives you a mental slap all the time, and you can't just sit still and do nothing. You've got to work, to keep up with the pace, the sting in the atmosphere.

A familiar name on its own, however, does not carry its bearer far unless the talent is there, and the will to work.

I held out my arms to him and he came to me like a child.

Writing every book is like a purge; at the end of it one is empty ... like a dry shell on the beach, waiting for the tide to come in again.

How lacking in intuition men could be in persuading themselves that mending some stranger's socks, and attending to his comfort, could content a woman.

And I don't like books which are full of name dropping.