Writers are doubters, compulsives, self-flagellants. The torture only stops for brief moments.

But come back in November or December, in February or March, when the fog, la nebbia, settles upon the city like a marvelous monster, and you will have little trouble believing that things can appear and disappear in this labyrinthine city, or that time here could easily slip in its sprockets and take you, willingly or unwillingly, back.

The worst thing about jealousy is how low it makes you reach.

There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes.

The problem with feminism in the second wave was that we fought so much among ourselves, and I think we did so much damage to the movement... and I think the next wave, the third wave, is women mentoring younger women and women helping younger women to enter the political process and the writing world.

The trick is not how much pain you feel - but how much joy you feel

I think we’re [men and women] more similar. In that we all deal with our fantasy lives and sometimes are disappointed by reality.