The apparent ease of California life is an illusion, and those who believe the illusion will live here in only the most temporary way.
Joan DidionMaking judgments on films is in many ways so peculiarly vaporous an occupation that the only question is why, beyond the obvious opportunities for a few lectures fees and a little careerism at a dispiritingly self-limiting level, anyone does it in the first place.
Joan DidionLet me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.
Joan DidionIf we do not respect ourselves, we are on the one hand forced to despise those who have so few resources as to consort with us, so little perception as to remain blind to our fatal weaknesses. On the other, we are peculiarly in thrall to everyone we see, curiously determined to live out — since our self-image is untenable — their false notions of us… We play roles doomed to failure before they are begun, each defeat generating fresh despair at the urgency of divining and meeting the next demand made upon us.
Joan Didion