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

It was better not to get too close to another person. The closer you got, the more likely you were to get hurt.

There's a war on. We don't know how anything's going to end. We just have to grasp each fleeting moment of joy as it whizzes by.

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.

The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent's own independence.

She put out her hand and touched his forearm, as she would have touched some piece of porcelain or sculpture, just for the sheer animal pleasure of feeling its shape and curve beneath her fingertips.