I have a good memory for early life. My visual memory is good about childhood and adolescence, and less good in the last 10 years. I could probably tell you less what happened in the last 10 years. I remember what houses looked like, sometimes they just pop into my head.

A girl's not a watermelon you plug a hole in to see if it's sweet.

On their best days, writers all over the world are winning Pulitzers, all alone in their studios, with no one watching.

At night the cries of cats making love or fighting, their caterwauling in the dark, told us that the world was pure emotion, flung back and forth among its creatures, the agony of the one-eyed Siamese no different from that of the Lisbon girls, and even the trees plunged in feeling.

Capitalism has resulted in material well-being but spiritual bankruptcy.

During a warm winter rain ... the basins of her collarbones collected water.

Pregnancy humbles husbands. After an initial rush of male pride they quickly recognise the minor role that nature had assigned them in the drama of reproduction.