Adolescence-is it the first time in life we discover that we have something terrible to hide from those who love us?

Grown-ups shouldn’t finish books they’re not enjoying. When you’re no longer a child, and you no longer live at home, you don’t have to finish everything on your plate. One reward of leaving school is that you don’t have to finish books you don’t like.

Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us.

You can learn a lot from your lovers, but-for the most part-you get to keep your friends longer, and you learn more from them.

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

This is a writer’s lesson: To learn that the sounds that we imagine can be the clearest, loudest sounds of all.

I always thought that you could do worse than find yourself dying in the company of a devoted former student.