History is said to be written by the victors. Fiction, by contrast, is largely the work of injured bystanders.

Writers really live in the mind and in hotels of the soul.

There was I, devouring books and yet allowing a man who had never read a book to walk me home for a bit of harmless fumbling on the front steps.

I have some women friends but I prefer men. Dont trust women. There is a built-in competition between women.

Countries are either mothers or fathers, and engender the emotional bristle secretly reserved for either sire.

Life, after all, was a secret with the self. The more one gave out, the less there remained for the center--that center which she coveted for herself and recognized instantly in others. Fruits had it, the very heart of, say, a cherry, where the true worth and flavor lay. Some of course were flawed or hollow in there. Many, in fact.

When you fall in love, it is spring no matter when. Leaves falling make no difference, they are from another season.