An artist's saddest secrets are those that have to do with his artistry.

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.

Success is never so interesting as struggle

Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.

The sky was a midnight-blue, like warm, deep, blue water, and the moon seemed to lie on it like a water-lily, floating forward with an invisible current.

The fact that I was a girl never damaged my ambitions to be a pope or an emperor.

It takes a great deal of experience to become natural.

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.

Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky.

The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.

The end is nothing; the road is all.

There is no great companion like a book.

When you live far away, home looks a little different every time.

When I'm in a place like Iceland, I allow myself to take a little more time to divert off onto other paths creatively for a while and see what comes to me.

It has all the contortions of the sibyl without the inspiration.

If you want intelligent children give them a book. If you want more intelligent children give them more books.

I don't think I've left a trail of weeping women in my wake. I mean, the number of serious relationships I've had has not been into double digits.

The older I get, the more I seek to use a plain prose style, concentrating more on story.

I never do impressions, but I probably should. People like that stuff.

Our hearts and souls are always the departing point for all thought, feeling and action.

It's immoral to ask people to risk their life.