Ultimately, we measure ourselves against our own ideas of idealism and perfection, and we don't always come very close to them.

I don't know what marriages are like in general, but there are many things which I don't talk about with my husband. We discuss practical problems, but I wouldn't sit down with him and talk about the distant past. It's somewhat in contrast to other Americans, who feel that they have to confess things, but I'm really not like that.

Life and people are complex. A writer as an artist doesn't have the personality of a politician. We don't see the world that simply.

One writes to memorialize, and to bring to life again that which has been lost.

Writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy and freedom.

Writing is a consequence of having been 'haunted' by material. Why this is, no one knows.

It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we really are.