When Tolstoy wrote that all happy families are alike, what he meant was that there are no happy families.

Personal experience is the lightning of the soul; it transforms the heart in ways that leave the brain behind.

Obsession is so extreme and so hard to imagine with the rational mind that it has a science-fiction-like quality to it-it's almost as if the obsessed one has been taken over by a replica, a pod, a facsimile of the rational person.

There were a number of books about Bill Wilson, and by him, but a lot of the basic biographical tasks had not been done.

Love is a great wrecker of peace of mind.

If a woman is surrounded by lovers or if a woman has a lot of guys asking her out, that's considered wonderful. As a woman who's slept with a lot of men, I've always been complimented on my ability to attract men.

I don't really think of writing as a career. It's something that happened to me. By working harder than I knew it was possible to work, I have become passable at it.