I love people. Everybody. I love them, I think, as a stamp collector loves his collection. Every story, every incident, every bit of conversation is raw material for me.

I may have made a straight A in physics, but I was panic-struck. Physics made me sick the whole time I learned it.

The trouble was, I had been inadequate all along, I simply hadn't thought about it.

Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted.

we walk the plank with strangers.

I lean to you, numb as a fossil. Tell me I'm here.

I had decided I would put off the novel until I had gone to Europe and had a lover.