It is an important distinction to note that she looked not only as if she had taken good care of herself, but that she had good reason to have done so. (...) She looked to be in such total possession of her life that only the most confident men could continue to look at her if she looked back at them. Even in bus stations, she was a woman who was stared at only until she looked back.

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

I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft.

It's not right to hurt or deceive someone who's already been hurt and deceived.

No one but me ever put a hand on me to feel that baby. No one wanted to put his ear against it and listen...You shouldn't have a baby if there's no one who wants to feel it kick or listen to it move.

Children are most impressed with the importance of a moment when they witness a parent breaking the parents' own rule.

When I feel like being a director, I write a novel.