In Rome people spend most of their time having lunch. And they do it very well - Rome is unquestionably the lunch capital of the world.

Everything in Japan is hidden. Real life has an unlisted phone number.

Cold soup is a very tricky thing and it is a rare hostess who can carry it off. More often than not the dinner guest is left with the impression that had he only come a little earlier he could have gotten it while it was still hot.

I just write when fear overtakes me.

I woke up at five o'clock in the morning with the whole first paragraph in my head. Now, this just shows what a slothful person I am: I tried to go back to sleep.

The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.

Romantic love is mental illness. But it's a pleasurable one. It's a drug. It distorts reality, and that's the point of it. It would be impossible to fall in love with someone that you really saw.