The detachment of the artist is kind of creepy. It's kind of rude, and yet really it's where art comes from. It's not the same as courage. It's closer to bad manners than to courage. If you're going to be a writer, you basically have to say, 'this is just who I am'. There's a certain indefensibility about it. It's not about loving your community and taking care of it — you're not attached to the chamber of commerce. It's a little unsafe. You have to be willing to have only four friends, not 11.

Surrealism could not be made up. It was the very electricity of the real.

But I believed in starting over. There was finally, I knew, only rupture and hurt and falling short between all persons, but, Shirley, the best revenge was to turn your life into a small gathering of miracles. If I could not be anchored and profound, I would try, at least, to be kind.

Love is art, not truth. It’s like painting scenery.

Most things good for writing are bad for life.

She was unequal to anyone's wistfulness. She had made too little of her life. Its loneliness shamed her like a crime.

She smiled at him, with longing. 'Where do you live,' she asked, 'and how do I get there?