If we can be sufficient unto ourselves, we need fear no entangling webs.

As a reader, I want a book to kidnap me into its world. Its world must make my so-called real world seem flimsy. Its world must lure me to return. When I close the book, I should feel bereft.

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.

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

I'm interested in what happens to people when they get into that publicity machine. We tend to think things have changed, but there's still a deep sexism underlying the way women are treated publicly.

If you apologize for something that isn't your fault in the first place, you, in effect, confirm their belief that it is your fault.

And what if I don't want forgiveness?