while there are 'women writers' there are not, and have never been, 'men writers.' This is an empty category, a class without specimens; for the noun 'writer' - the very verb 'writing' - always implies masculinity.

Even as a young child, I was a lover of books and of the spaces in which, as indeed in a sacred temple, books might safely reside.

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

... such speculation is like staring into the hot white sun. you know the sun is there but you can't see a thing.

I have beliefs, of course, like everyone-but I don't always believe in them.

A writer’s life is in his work, and that is the place to find him.

How lovely this world is, really: one simply has to look.