He was one of those people things came easily to, but he did little to demonstrate that he deserved to be gifted.

Ever since the Christmas of 1953, I have felt that the yuletide is a special hell for those families who have suffered any loss or who must admit to any imperfection; the so-called spirit of giving can be as greedy as receiving-Christmas is our time to be aware of what we lack, of who's not home.

Don’t you understand?” he would say, “You imagine the story better than I remember it.

It's because even a good man can't always be right, that we need ... rules.

Plot is a map and I begin with it. It is what made me admire the novels of the 19th century; that the stories are foreshadowed. TheyÕre going someplace.

when however small a measure of jealousy is mixed with misunderstanding, there is always going to be trouble.

I begin with an interest in a relationship, a situation, a character.