Mostly I enjoy the restaurants (my husband is a chef), though I wish we had a wider diversity of ethnic food.

I believe in whatever gets you throught the night. [...] Night is the hardest time to be alive. For me, anyway. It lasts so long, and four A.M.knows all my secrets.

Sometimes we gotta be brave even when we're scared. We gotta not let being scared keep us from thinkin' straight. That's all brave is, boy, when you come right down to it, not lettin' the fear get you so turned around you start doin' stupid things, instead of what you know you ought to do.

If you want something, you don't wait for the world to deal it out for you. You take it.

In the Netherlands I read the first chapter of Exquisite Corpse to an audience that laughed in all the places I thought were funny - an experience I've never had in America!

Yeah, I think A Confederacy of Dunces is probably the perfect New Orleans book.

You hold onto what you have; you do not give it up easily, even when you know it is poisoning you.