There is no patience so terrible as that of the deranged.

And perhaps there is a limit to the grieving that the human heart can do. As when one adds salt to a tumbler of water, there comes a point where simply no more will be absorbed.

It was heavy, and I staggered when I lifted it; but it was strangely satifying to have a real burden upon my shoulders – a kind of counterweight to my terrible heaviness of heart.

Respect your characters, even the ­minor ones. In art, as in life, everyone is the hero of their own particular story; it is worth thinking about what your minor characters' stories are, even though they may intersect only slightly with your protagonist's.

Why do gentlemen's voices carry so clearly, when women's are so easily stifled?

What does it say?" I said, when I had. She said, "It is filled with all the words for how I want you...Look.

I do love the past but wouldnt want to live in it.