You think you know someone by looking at his face but what can one face say about the thousand thoughts behind those eyes.

There is only ever one answer to the question what did you do with your life, and it's the same--fleeting and unknowable--for every one of us. I lived.

You speak your mind, don't you...? A rare find in a woman.

I will never turn to God.

What thrills me about trains is not their size or their equipment but the fact that they are moving, that they embody a connection between unseen places.

Asking anyone what she or he is reading is a necessary part of conversation, exchanging news. So I take recommendations from friends - and I always pass along a book I've loved.

I take the world very personally. I take history personally; I want to place myself in the larger context.