I'm a child in that respect: able to live, physically speaking, on a crumb of anticipation for weeks at a time, but always in danger of crushing the waited-for event with the freight of my excessive hope.
Zoë HellerWhen I tried to do something else, everyone behaved as if I was Gypsy Rose Lee trying to paint a Matisse.
Zoë HellerWhen you live alone, your furnishings, your possessions, are always confronting you with the thinness of your existence.
Zoë HellerI don't write books for people to be friends with the characters. If you want to find friends, go to a cocktail party.
Zoë HellerThere are certain people in whom you can detect the seeds of madness - seeds that have remained dormant only because the people in question have lived relatively comfortable, middle class lives. They function perfectly well in the world, but you can imagine, given a nasty parent, or a prolonged bout of unemployment, how their potential for craziness might have been realized.
Zoë Heller