The older we get, the more Jewish we become in my family.

Beware of the man who praises women's liberation; he is about to quit his job.

You don't get to choose what you get famous for and you don't get to control which of your life's many struggles gets to stand for you.

Venice, that capital city of dream and intrigue, that double city (one above and seemingly solid, one below, wavering and reflected in the waters), which never disappoints.

I am never so calm as after I have written. And the next morning I will feel the familiar anxiety and I will have to begin the process all over again.

There is no loneliness like the loneliness of a dead marriage.

No one to blame! That was why most people led lives they hated, with people they hated. How wonderful to have someone to blame! How wonderful to live with one's nemesis! You may be miserable, but you feel forever in the right. You may be fragmented, but you feel absolved of all the blame for it. Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.