It was something every child knew how to do, maintain a direct and full connection with the world. Somehow you forgot about it as you grew up, and had to learn it again.

We knew, finally, that the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them.

Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.

When I wrote The Virgin Suicides, I gave myself very strict rules about the narrative voice: the boys would only be able to report what they had seen or found or what had been told to them.

Basically what we have here is a dreamer. Somebody out of touch with reality. When she jumped, she probably thought she'd fly

It was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water.

In the end, the tortures tearing the Lisbon girls pointed to a simple reasoned refusal to accept the world as it was handed down to them, so full of flaws.

Depression is like a bruise that never goes away. A bruise in your mind. You just got to be careful not to touch it where it hurts. It's always there, though.

You never get over it, but you get to where it doesn't bother you so much.

It was like autumn, looking at her. it was like driving up north to see the colors.

She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about.

Of the many forms that silence takes, the most memorable is the dry husk of the cicada.

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration I don't think you can go wrong.

I ended up spending years on a spiritual quest - diving into the world's great spiritual traditions.

I don't think we should be putting first-time drug offenders in jail for five years. It's a waste of resources.

I drink for the thirst to come.

You know I love a good family feud and I carry a big stick.

Once again, her parents' problems had run through her life like a piece of heavy equipment, smashing everything in their way.

There's no point in bragging in the good times. Your friends don't need to hear it and your enemies won't believe it anyway.

Courage, Alexander..... Courage, Tatiana

The intellect is not a serious thing, and never has been. It is an instrument on which one plays, that is all.