The safe places could only be visited; they could only grant a momentary intuition of sanctuary. The moment always came when we had to return to our real life to face the wounds and grief indigenous to our homr by the river.

Few things linger longer or become more indwelling than that feeling of both completion and emptiness when a great book ends. That the book accompanies the reader forever from that day forward is part of literature's profligate generosity.

I've never cackled with laughter at a single line I've ever written. None of it has given me pleasure.

One can learn anything, anything at all, I thought, if provided by a gifted and passionate teacher.

Looking around, I thought the human species was in fine shape and tried to think of something more beautiful than women and couldn't come up with a thing. The propagation of the species was a dance of total joy.

Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends.

I don't believe in happy families.