Your life story would not make a good book. Don't even try.

To put it rather bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.

The Italians are the most civilized people. And they're very warm. Basically, they're Jews with great architecture.

One [New York] eatery is a remodeled diner that looks like what Busby Berkeley would have done if only he hadn't had the money.

[On the writers she admires:] I prefer dead writers, because I don't see them at parties.

In conversation you can use timing, a look, an inflection. But on the page all you have is commas, dashes, the amount of syllables in a word. When I write, I read everything out loud to get the right rhythm.

Marriage entitles women to the protection of a strong man who will steady the stepladder while they paint the kitchen ceiling.