She was fascinated with words. To her, words were things of beauty, each like a magical powder or potion that could be combined with other words to create powerful spells.

Hunches [are] just messages from the subconscious, which [is] thinking furiously all the time and processing information we have not consciously noted.

There are days when it seems to me that in literature the most convincing depiction of the world in which we live is to be found in the phantasmagorical kingdom through which Lewis Carroll took Alice on a tour.

Every human being has appetites difficult to control but far fewer have humility, gentleness, and an awareness of their weaknesses.

Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.

After once having made the mistake of watching television news, I had worried for a while about an asteroid hitting the earth and wiping out human civilization. The anchorwoman had said it was not merely possible but probable. At the end of the report, she smiled.

You can't always win arguments as a writer, but you have to just go ahead and say, well, I'm doing it that way anyway.