Of course men play roles, but women play roles too, blanker ones. They have, in the play of life, fewer good lines.

A bad review is even less important than whether it is raining in Patagonia.

I just enjoy translating, it's like opening one's mouth and hearing someone else's voice emerge.

The most essential and fundamental aspect of culture is the study of literature, since this is an education in how to picture and understand human situations.

Not to have been born is undoubtedly best, but sound sleep is second best.

There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for-granted relationship.

Freedom may be a value in politics, but it is not a value in morals.