How exhausted I am suddenly!—though this has been Ray’s best day in the hospital so far, and we are feeling—almost—exhilarated.

Hospital vigils inspire us to such nostalgia. Hospital vigils take place in slow-time during which the mind floats free, a frail balloon drifting into the sky as into infinity.

That I was sleeping at a time when my husband was dying is so horrible a thought, I can’t confront it.

She will speculate that she didn’t fully know her husband—this will give her leverage to seek him, to come to know him. It will keep her husband “alive” in her memory—elusive, teasing.

It is the most horrific thought—my husband died among strangers.

The coolly calibrated manipulation of the credulous American public, by an administration bent upon stoking paranoid patriotism!

The gardener is the quintessential optimist: not only does he believe that the future will bear out the fruits of his efforts, he believes in the future.

For writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy, freedom.

It is utterly naive, futile, uninformed—to think that our species is exceptional. So designated to master the beasts of the Earth, as in the Book of Genesis!

Peter, you're twelve years old. I'm ten. They have a word for people our age. They call us children and they treat us like mice.

There is absolutely no greater high than challenging the power structure as a nobody, giving it your all, and winning!

I woke up many mornings not knowing what I'd done the night before. I'm amazed I'm not dead.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

I have a lot of shoes.

The number of women in power positions is a fraction of the number of men in such positions.

Love is perfect kindness.

It's much harder when you're writing about your life, than when you're writing fiction.

The companies aren't hiring, because consumers don't have enough money to buy the goods and services.

I like globalization; I want to say it works, but it is hard to say that when six hundred million people are slipping backwards.