I didn't write any fiction until I was past thirty.

Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life.

No metaphor reinvents the job of the nurture of children except to muddy or mock.

The only recognizable feature of hope is action.

I saw my ex-husband in the street. I was sitting on the steps of the new library. Hello, my life, I said. We had once been married for twenty-seven years, so I felt justified. He said, What? What life? No life of mine.

Well, you have children so you know: little children little troubles, big children, big troubles - it's a saying in Yiddish. Maybe the Chinese said it too.

Art's too long and life's too short.