Family life itself, that safest, most traditional, most approved of female choices, is not a sanctuary: It is, perpetually, a dangerous place.

I've always thought that very few people grow old as admirably as academics. At least books never let them down.

The women are always vixens or monsters. They can't just be normal people in the book.

When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

If I knew what the meanings of my books were, I wouldn't have bothered to write them.

My anti-Americanism has become almost uncontrollable. It has possessed me, like a disease. It rises up in my throat like acid reflux, that fashionable American sickness. I now loathe the United States and what it has done to Iraq and the rest of the helpless world.

Family life itself, that safest, most traditional, most approved of female choices, is not a sanctuary: It is, perpetually, a dangerous place.