Thunderstorms were rare in California, but when they came they were, like most things in California, larger than life.

Even a small, everyday lie is a clue to the personality and preoccupations of the liar, like a dream or any other confection of the mind, that is half-conscious and half-unconscious, as all creative acts must be.

the old ploy of the powerful: never refuse when you can confuse. Distraction and delay are always better than obstruction.

At twenty your choices are almost unlimited. At fifty you're a prisoner of past decisions. At seventy you have no free will left at all.

Falling in love is like religious conversion. It goes on for a long time below the threshold before it reaches consciousness.

Other people's children, like other people's love affairs, were so much less interesting than one's own.

the true and the plausible are rarely the same.