It's easy to confuse a woman for a philosophy

You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality.

As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue.

The past is always tense, the future perfect.

Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.

Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.

Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.

Time is how you spend your love.

I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.

Don't confuse honours with achievement.

Pulchritude--beauty where you would least suspect it, hidden in a word that looked like it should signify a belch or a skin infection.

Isolation and loneliness are central causes of depression and despair.

Moderation has never yet engineered an explosion

Sometimes I just like to listen to unknown people, that can be really, really cool. I like going on blogs and stuff.

I think it's very empowering to be able to have a career and to be a mother. It gives you an amazing sense of self.

It is outrageous to utter the name of Jesus Christ and live in Judaism.

Football without fans is nothing.

Yes, forget your weakness, whatever that weakness may be. It is egotism, it is selfishness after. all, for it is a dwelling on self. Forget your weakness; and remember your strength.

Nobody wants me as a Cabinet Minister and they are perfectly right. I am an agitator, not an administrator.

There's nothing like a hardship song to set my toes a-tappin.

We're not trying to entertain the critics ... I'll take my chances with the public.