Being in one's 50s is a powerful time.

There is a probably natural and learned reticence with myself talking about my early life.

There seems to be this impression that if I really am a psychotherapist, I cant be serious about it. They think there must be something fishy going on.

So many people suffer from abuse, and suffer alone.

I grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, an arid kind of place, but every day I took the ferry across the harbour to get to school. I'd watch the ships coming in and going out.

There was a special challenge in describing the awful childhood of a person who happens to be my own husband. It was very painful at times, for both of us.

I loved my life, but my choices were overloading and overwhelming me. Listening to inner feelings and fulfilling some of these urges when they come along is incredibly important.

Most people who went about saying a ghost had poked them with a brolly would be locked up somewhere.

When I came off the boat I was very proud of the thick calluses which had developed on my feet. But now, I am struggling to get into my favourite high heels which is a shame, as I have so many.

Perfect objectivity is always impossible, no matter who writes a person's biography.

Being a psychologist did enable me to maintain objectivity.

What we colloquially call 'feeling bored' is just the mind, acting out of a self-preserving reflex, ejecting information it has despaired of knowing where to place.

I always liken it to being a referee - if you notice the referee, that's not a good thing.

I draw and play the piano badly. But when I’m doing those things, I’m concentrating so hard there’s no room for worry. I find that onstage, too.

It is not because we have been free, but because we have a right to be free, that we ought to demand freedom. Justice and liberty have neither birth nor race, youth nor age.

When I was working on my career, I was very aware of what I had done, what I wanted to do next. I'm having a good time just reading things that might be interesting to do.

I'm obsessed with low end, its kind of my religion. In a way it has given me a chance to explore more than I have in any other project.

There is no disgrace in staying behind, not when it's the right thing.

Givers advance the world. Takers advance themselves and hold the world back

George Oppen wasn't a larger than life personality, but I'm not either. And he lived a long time, so he was happy. Going down in flames is fine, too.

Whoever is holding the belt right now is the one I want to fight. I want to get that belt again. It's mine.