memory is so selective; wishful thinking presses it into service all the time.

There is probably an innate masochism in a lot of women that ends up disappointed if men don't ill-treat them.

Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the first it takes away.

Preserve your peace of mind. There is not much time; all things end in death. Do not lament the past too much, or fear the future too acutely, ot waste too much energy on other peoples' woes, in case the present dissolves altogether.

If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens.

Fiction stretches our sensibilities and our understanding, as mere information never can.

Confidence is something one acquires. It can come early or late but it is impossible to write without it. Mine came late.