biography is essentially a collaborative art, the latest biographer collaborating with all those who wrote earlier.

I think poetry is the best thing I do. It's certainly the purest. I seem to switch gears without too much trouble. Non-fiction is in many ways the easiest to write.

I have forgotten my rave reviews and memorized my vicious ones - like most writers.

Loving someone is a loss of freedom - but one doesn't think of it as loss because one gains so much else.

the only people worth writing about are those about whom the last word cannot be said.

Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love and loyalty. They depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog; it merely expands the heart. If you have loved many dogs, your heart is very big.

Hate generalizes; love is particular.