A picnic may well be a metaphor for life. The essentials for happiness are the right company, moderate if sanguine expectations and a reasonable standard of physical sustenance and comfort, the whole being bedeviled by the belief that there is always something better to be had if only one presses on.

Of all the things that human beings did together, the sexual act was the one with the most various of reasons.

Publishers don't nurse you; they buy and sell you.

Charm is always genuine; it may be superficial but it isn't false.

read widely, not in order to copy someone else's style, but to learn to appreciate and recognize good writing and to see how the best writers have achieved their result. Poor writing is, unfortunately, infectious and should be avoided.

Not so much two ships passing in the night as two ships sailing together for a time but always bound for different ports.

you'd like the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That must be the most futile oath anyone ever swears.