Even if they knew the truth of their own feelings, most mothers would be socially and emotionally incapable of revealing it.

A sentence is born into this world neither good nor bad, and that to establish its character is a question of the subtlest possible adjustments, a process of intuition to which exaggeration and force are fatal.

Divorce also entails the beginning of a supposition that that familial reality might have obstructed one's ability to perceive others.

There are certain types of slightly hysterical human characters who, rather than creating, walk around with a sense of their own potential - it's as if they themselves were art objects. They feel as if their lives are written narratives, or pieces of music.

Every time I write a book, I've probably taken five years off my life.

Human beings have a need, generally, to destroy things. The Freudian principle of civilisation is correct. There's always, always a difference between the family image and the reality.

Modern morality is all about perception.