I wasn't good enough. I had a little talent but not enough. There is nothing more discouraging than having just a little talent.

And the wicked thing is, that when we're really upset, we always take it out on the people who are closest and whom we love the most.

I'm getting too elderly to travel the length of the country for a free hangover.

Writing is work, but it's also a compulsion, and once you get your characters on paper, you can't abandon them. You have to respond to them.

It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive. Arrival often brings nothing but a sense of desolation and disappointment.

Grief was like a terrible burden, but at least you could lay it down by the side of the road and walk away from it. Antonia had come only a few paces, but already she could turn and look back and not weep. It wasn't anything to do with forgetting. It was just accepting. Nothing was ever so bad once you had accepted it.

Life is so extraordinary. Wonderful surprises are just around the most unexpected corners.