... scarred by wisdom she'd never asked for.

I sort of play golf because a lot of my friends are into it, but I'm awful - my handicap is about six or seven thousand.

What's your name?" "Emma Gould," she said. "What's yours?" "Wanted." "By all the girls or just the law?

Narrative becomes the way you make sense of chaos. That's how you focus the world. It's the only reason you should ever try this writing job.

Don't get me wrong, I love literary fiction. It's faux literary fiction I can't stand.

I normally can't stand vice-free people. They conflate a narcissistic instinct for self-preservation with moral superiority. Plus, they suck the life right out of a party.

You've learned that every good lie is threaded with truth and every accepted truth leaks lies.