What happened to the writer is not what matters; what matters is the large sense that the writer is able to make of what happened.

The older I grow, the more I realize how unfit we are for relationships. We are all such antagonists. It's part of the human condition to be deeply unfaithful to constancy. I do believe that.

Papa's love did indeed have wondrous properties: it not only compensated for her boredom and anxiety, it was the cause of her boredom and anxiety.

self-possession is the ability to face without fear life in all its contradictions.

They say writers sell everybody out. What can you do? You know only the people you know.

Feminism gave me a way to see myself in culture, in society, in history, and that was very important.

We cannot depend on change, but we can depend on surprise. However, we cannot always depend on surprise either. This keeps us on our toes.