It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.

My novels aren't really generated by a single conceptual spark; it's more a process of many different elements that come together unexpectedly over a long period of time.

I'd rather write one good book than ten mediocre ones.

There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty-unless she is wed to something more meaningful-is always superficial

No money, holes in my socks, living off oatmeal.

Still when I lost her, I lost sight of any landmark that might have led me someplace happier, to some more populated or congenial life.

But sometimes, unexpectedly, grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping; and when the waves washed back, I found myself looking out over a brackish wreck which was illumined in a light so lucid, so heartsick and empty, that I could hardly remember that the world had ever been anything but dead.