Falling out of love is very enlightening. For a short while you see the world with new eyes.

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.

Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story.

People have obsessions and fears and passions which they don't admit to. I think every character is interesting and has extremes. It's the novelist privilege to see how odd everyone is.

In almost every marriage there is a selfish and an unselfish partner. A pattern is set up and soon becomes inflexible, of one person always making the demands and one person always giving way.

evil soon makes tools out of those who don't hate it.

Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions.