She was not good on the phone. She needed the face, the pattern of eyes, nose, trembling mouth... People talking were meant to look at a face, the disastrous cupcake of it, the hide-and-seek of the heart dashing across. With a phone, you said words, but you never watched them go in. You saw them off at the airport but never knew whether there was anyone there to greet them when they got off the plane.

If one publishes, then one is creating a public record of Learning to Write.

Personally I've never put much store by honesty- I mean how can you trust a word whose first letter you don't even pronounce

She was afraid, and the afraid, she realized, sought opportunities for bravery in love.

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

I always do the wrong. I do the wrong thing so much that the times I actually do the right thing stand out so brightly in my memory that I forget I always do the wrong thing.

When you were six you thought mistress meant to put your shoes on the wrong feet. Now you are older and know it can mean many things, but essentially it means to put your shoes on the wrong feet.