It was not a big smile, not particularly bold or polite or ironic or glib, not asking for anything or offering anything, not stringy or careless, not, in short, like any smile I had ever experienced before. But such a smile! You could burn a hole in the world with that smile.

Self-knowledge is essential not only to writing, but to doing almost anything really well. It allows you to work through from a deep place - from the deep, dark corners of your subconscious mind.

I, a late riser, fantasise about getting up every morning at 5 A.M. to fetch the horses in from the fields.

I guess there was a war going on somewhere in the world that night but it wasn't one that could touch us.

I guess the difference between Gin and me is that when Gin got shut in the barn she thought Edmond didn't love her anymore but because I could feel Edmond out there somewhere always loving me I didn't have to howl all night.

I felt a momentary urge to leap into the sea and swim free of the present.

I didn't seem to have that effect on anyone but it would have been a waste for both of us to be saints.