I like to cook; it is, for me, a happy combination of mindlessness and purpose.

When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child's hands, you are bringing that child news of the infinitely varied nature of life. You are an awakener.

A good novel begins with a small question and ends with a bigger one.

The minute you become conscious that you are doing good, that's the minute you have to stop because from then on it's wrong.

To be human is to be in a story.

Families hold each other in an iron grip of definition. One must break the grip, somehow.

The language of labels is like paper money, issued irresponsibly, with nothing of intrinsic value behind it, that is, with no effort of the intelligence to see, to really apprehend.

Literature is the province of imagination, and stories, in whatever guise, are meditations on life.

People steal into one's consciousness and occupy what seems, in retrospect, to have been their place all along.

I was the goldfish that leapt out of the bowl.

Life is all getting used to what you're not used to.

Prayers said by good people are always good prayers

Every mother and daughter should make time for a trip together. It's good for the soul.

There's many a good tune played by an old banjo.

The cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, and all there ever will be.

I learnt basic cookery by watching my mum.

Don't worry about yesterday it ended last night at midnight.

Vampires have bright eyes glistening white teeth unnaturally smooth skin and a certain animal magnetism. If they aren't pretty they starve. It's sort of like life in Los Angeles.

Life, Lady Stutfield, is simply a mauvais quart d'heure made up of exquisite moments.

Nature is full of freaks, and now puts an old head on young shoulders, and then takes a young heart heating under fourscore winters.

The way to succeed is to double your error rate.