At most, I may write when I am disturbed by something. I have recently discovered the pleasure of finding written answers to written questions.

Is it possible that even happy moments of pleasure never stand up to a rigorous examination? Possible.

Writers, because they write, are condemned never to be readers of their own stories...The memory of first putting a story into words will always prevent writers from reading their work as an ordinary reader would.

Competition between women is good only if it does not prevail; that is to say if it coexists with affinity, affection, with a real sense of being mutually indispensable, with sudden peaks of solidarity in spite of envy, jealousy and the whole inevitable cohort of bad feelings.

Women, in all fields - whether mothers or not - still encounter an extraordinary number of obstacles. They have to hold too many things together and often sacrifice their aspirations in the name of affections.

At most, I may write when I am disturbed by something. I have recently discovered the pleasure of finding written answers to written questions.

As a girl - twelve, thirteen years old - I was absolutely certain that a good book had to have a man as its hero, and that depressed me.