My belief that the publishing industry is run by prigs and cowards dates back to many years before I even had the idea for the book.

There's this resistance to actually talking to people who are smarter than you about things and I don't know why that is.

I don't think that if I had spent the time that I was in, say, Belgrade, writing about my time in Trieste, which is where I had just been, that would have been productive. I told myself: take extensive notes while you're there, do the research part of it, and then pray, pray, the muses will be available when the actual 'ready' happens.

I mean, many times your creative problem is accidentally your personal problem, but it's not quite the same.

American culture never necessarily made sense to me, but they should warn you: leaving comes with a huge sense of alienation that never goes away.

A wild appreciation of men and women . . . who passionately and fearlessly and recklessly redefine romance. . . . The passionate creatures who refuse to play it safe and settle down now have an intelligent, like-minded advocate.

I understand maybe some people are more impressionable than my hard, cynical self, but maybe they need to figure out how to be less of that.