Oh, God — the lives people try to lead. Oh, God — what a world they try to lead them in.

I don't know about you, but I practice a disorganized religion. I belong to an unholy disorder. We call ourselves "Our Lady of Perpetual Astonishment."

All male writers, incidentally, no matter how broke or otherwise objectionable, have pretty wives. Somebody should look into this.

Suicide is the punctuation mark at the end of many artistic careers

One thing I learned, with permission of the school committee of Indianapolis, was that when a tyrant or a government gets in trouble it wonders what to do. Declare war! Then nothing else matters. It's like chess; when in doubt, castle.

Her face ... was a one-of-a-kind, a surprising variation on a familiar theme - a variation that made observers think, Yes - that would be another very nice way for people to look. What Beatrice had done with her face, actually, was what any plain girl could do. She overlaid it with dignity, suffering, intelligence, and a piquant dash of bitchiness.

Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.