Some things arrive in their own mysterious hour, on their own terms and not yours, to be seized or relinquished forever.

I work continuously within the shadow of failure. For every novel that makes it to my publisher's desk, there are at least five or six that died on the way. And even with the ones I do finish, I think of all the ways they might have been better.

Dreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language.

If there is such a thing as sin in this world, I think it must be shutting oneself up against hope.

I'm always aware that I risk being taken for a neurasthenic prima donna when I explain to someone who wants 'just a little' of my time that five minutes of the wrong kind of distraction can ruin a working day.

The race of children possesses magically sagacious powers.

Learning when 'enough is enough' is the discipline of a lifetime.