When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top.

Yes, there's one thing I do want. I want to be aware of the minutes and the seconds, and to make each one count.

Never let anyone shame you into doing anything you don't choose to do. Keep your identity.

A man must feel he runs things, but as long as you control yourself, you control him.

I wanted to write it long before I wrote Every Night, Josephine! I'd been thinking about it a long time.

I don't think any novelist should be concerned with literature…literature should be left to essayists.

People parted, years passed, they met again- and the meeting proved no reunion, offered no warm memories, only the acid knowledge that time had passed and things weren't as bright or attractive as they had been.