I write what I call 'novels of consolation' for people who are bright and sophisticated.

Politicians were like talking dogs in a circus: the fact that they existed was uncommonly interesting, but no sane person would actually believe what they said

Whether you like it or not, Paris is the beating heart of Western civilisation. It's where it all began and ended.

You can't make accommodations in crucial situations and be heroic.

Wherever God has planted you, you must know how to flower - translated from a French saying

If you can live in Paris, maybe you should.

Live today, for tomorrow we die.

I have a very serious censorship office inside my head; it censors things that I could tell you that you would never forget, and I don't want to be the person to stick that in your brain.

The best Paris I know now is in my head.

Once you have your characters, they tell you what to write, you don't tell them.

One is what one has the nerve to pretend to be.

Beauty is a fragile gift.

Tibby's wish would be to hold on to the idea of love even in the face of darkest doubt. Because that was the way in which she failed. Not once, but again and again.

My ambition was always to show aspects of daily life as if we were seeing them for the first time.

Study people who can teach you how to deal with people.

I have nothing to say for myself, only that I have always tried to make this earth a little bit better

People sometimes have a very hard time accepting change.

For me, being vulnerable is asking for help from other people whatever it may be.

My mother used to rock me - and she used big rocks.

If you join ISIS, if you wage jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.