I have spent my life waiting for something to happen,’ she said. ‘And I have come to understand that nothing will. Or it already has, and I blinked during that moment and it's gone. I don't know which is worse — to have missed it or to know there is nothing to miss.’ Falling Angels

I have consistently loved books that I've read when I've been sick in bed.

We say very little, for we do not need to. We are silent together, each in her own world, knowing the other is just at her back.

Yes, well, life is a folly. If you live long enough, nothing is surprising.

It's those little daily incidents of life that are dramatic, and if you put a frame around it , suddenly they become much bigger and much more important than you ever imagined.

Although I always said that I wanted to be a writer from childhood, I hadn't actually done much about it until I came to London.

I wanted to wear the mantle and the pearls. I wanted to know the man who painted her like that.