Delia's arms were inscribed with a grid of self- inflicted wounds, an intricate text of self-loathing

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them.

I'd like to have the kind of house someday where a carousel horse wouldn't be out of place in the living room.

Sometimes I think the difference between what we want and what we're afraid of is about the width of an eyelash.

The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families.

There's a socialist bias to the consensus of the literary world: a '30s mentality that says factory workers are more worthy of our attention.

I like the fact that I'm living in the world rather than in a university.

If it's red, French, costs too much, and tastes like the water that's left in the vase after the flowers have died and rotted, it's probably Burgundy.

Reading a novel is just a much more involving and intimate experience than the act of watching a film. I mean, you literally get inside of a novelist's head, and you invest many hours to do so.

The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously, the things that surprise me.

Most novelists I know went through a period of intense self-examination and self-loathing after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I certainly did.

Whether in an advantageous position or a disadvantageous one, the opposite state should be always present to your mind.

I compensate for big risks by always doing my homework and being well-prepared. I can take on larger risks by reducing the overall risk.

We lock ourselves into our own philosophies, our own religions, our own walks of life, and if we fail, we condemn ourselves and then we get sick.

Education: free and compulsory - what a way to learn logic!

The way Bernard Shaw believes in himself is very refreshing in these atheistic days when so many people believe in no God at all.

I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities.

I like to give people more than their money's worth.

One cannot help but be impressed by this music. The musicianship is top-notch, the performances unpredictable and full of surprises, and Eric Starr's writing is consistently inventive.

If you eat, you are involved in agriculture.

Oh, that way madness lies; let me shun that.