My husband believed that all women who want to should be free, equal, independent, creative, well informed, and lead stimulating, interesting lives. Except me.

A lawyer's relationship to justice and wisdom is on a par with a piano tuner's relationship to a concert. He neither composes the music, nor interprets it-he merely keeps the machinery running.

Tell people the truth, they laugh. The truth is so tragic they have to pretend it's a joke.

No mass appeal. Ergo no profit. Ergo no use. The current World Credo.

Well, I thought, as I tidied up the kitchen, there's no question that a man who works all week needs to relax on the weekend. There's no question about that. There's only a question about this: What about a woman who works all week?

Unemployed writers have muses. Employed writers just sweat.

Kinsey Millhone is a female Sam Spade; a thorough professional, a loner, clear-headed and unsentimental.