The most likely moment for something incredible to happen to me was the moment I was most certain nothing ever would.

Your 40s are a major trough. About the age of 50, feelings of satisfaction begin to rebound and keep rising into your 50s, 60s and 70s, with health being a major factor.

I've always been profoundly ambivalent about fame. I think it just eats the reality out of you and it can be intoxicating because I like some of it.

New Yorkers, by reputation, are fast-talking, assertive and easily annoyed; I fit right in.

My tides were fluctuating, too - back and forth, back and forth - sometimes so fast they seemed to be spinning. They call this 'rapid cycling.' It's a marvel that a person can appear to be standing still when the mood tides are sloshing back and forth, sometimes sweeping in both directions at once. They call that a 'mixed state.'

Nobody calls me silly. That is not a word that applies to me.

You cannot look at a sleeping cat and feel tense.