One of the troubles is this: the heart isn't heart-shaped.

If the writer were more like a reader, he’d be a reader, not a writer. It’s as uncomplicated as that.

Alice Munro can move characters through time in a way that no other writer can.

There's nothing wrong with being a genius who can fascinate the young. Rather, there's something wrong with the young who can't be fascinated by a genius.

But life never lets you go, does it? You can't put down life the way you put down a book.

Women scheme when they are weak, they lie out of fear. Men scheme when they are strong, they lie out of arrogance.

What is history? Any thoughts, Webster?' 'History is the lies of the victors,' I replied, a little too quickly. 'Yes, I was rather afraid you'd say that. Well, as long as you remember that it is also the self-delusions of the defeated. ... 'Finn?' '"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation." (quoting Patrick Lagrange)