People, no matter the economic class, find ways to feed their narcissism.

The Dutch and the English, former competitors for world dominance, taught me the wisdom of waiting as well as withholding.

People, no matter the economic class, find ways to feed their narcissism.

I learned I could be miserable anywhere in the world. I learned I really was an American.

I think I'm too indoctrinated. I'm going to use everything I can, and I think if I used an advertisement in that one, it would be yet another way to connect the current day with Wharton. Wharton has been perceived sometimes as being too upper class; Wharton was an extraordinary social thinker. As relevant today as anyone, so she uses some language that isn't current, but to me, I'm so happy about that because I get so bored with the 100 words that people mostly use.

The literary world is more time-traveling than the art world, and novelty is much more important in art than it is in writing.

People are less focused on the story, and more on how the story is told.