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

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.

gossip ... was like any other commodity in the marketplace. You received it only if you had something of value to give.

Perfect love may cast our fear, but fear is remarkably potent in casting out love.

Suicide is the most private and mysterious of acts, inexplicable because the chief actor is never there to explain it.

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

I still occasionally need to struggle but I now fear it less. The weapons I fight it with are also my consolations: books, music, food, wine, nature.