Derivative writers seem versatile because they imitate many others, past and present. Artistic originality has only itself to copy.

Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.

And the rest is rust and stardust.

Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.

Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars.

Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

The writer's job is to get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them.

There are aphorisms that, like airplanes, stay up only while they are in motion.

I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.

Loneliness as a situation can be corrected, but as a state of mind it is an incurable illness.

Nobody works harder at learning than a curious kid.

That is why humans resist life. To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggestfear we have

Human nature is so complicated that it will never know the exact border between normality and abnormality them they..

She gave me another of those long keen looks, and I could see that she was again asking herself if her favourite nephew wasn't steeped to the tonsils in the juice of the grape.

Other married people have lived together and hated each other. Why shouldn't we? We may forget even to hate.

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful idiots are always asking, "What's in it for me"?

The luxury to disparage freedom is the privilege of those who already possess it.

I don't smoke often, maybe once or twice a month, but it makes me feel sexy and romantic.

I never studied with Balanchine, but his work was very important to me.

The diffusion of taste is not the same thing as the improvement of taste.