I adore the work of Stephen Sondheim. I like musicales in general. They make surprisingly great running tapes.

how magnanimous was a gesture if one were constantly aware of its magnanimity?

There are, of course, an infinite number of places where one is not, yet only one place where one actually is.

I think I'm part of a generation of crime writers all of whom woke up independently and recoiled with horror at the fact that we'd chosen this very conservative genre.

Whatever you want, at any moment, someone else is getting it. Whatever you have, someone else is longing for.

Children can be happy when their parents are miserable. But a parent is never happier than her unhappiest child.

There was nothing more dangerous than people convinced of their own good intentions.