She felt the intimate loss of who she was meant to become.

I wonder whether there is such a thing as a sense of individuality. Is it all a facade, covering a deep need to belong? Are we simply pack animals desperately trying to pretend we are not?

I believe one has to escape oneself to discover oneself.

...What happens is of little significance compared with the stories we tell ourselves about what happens. Events matter little, only stories of events affect us.

I wonder if being sane means disregarding the chaos that is life, pretending only an infinitesimal segment of it is reality.

The eye always fills in the imperfections.

I long ago abandoned myself to a blind lust for the written word. Literature is my sandbox. In it I play, build my forts and castles, spend glorious time.

What is the purpose of a city if not to grant the greatest of gifts, anonymity?

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who want to be desired, and people who want to be desired so much that they pretend they don't.

I'm an atheist, a devout atheist, but I find religion fascinating. Primarily because of cultural references, as in: This is what we grew up with. Both on a personal level and a collective level.

For someone like me and my generation, you had to speak French to be sophisticated, you had to be lighter-skinned.

He was rather clumsy and shy and looked as if he'd spent the last ten years of his life locked up in a library - hardly the kind of man any girl your age dreams of ...

Having unceasingly grateful life requires demonstrating gratitude daily whether our daily life treats us kindly or not.

My idea of Christmas is love.

For the moment I prefer to be a beautiful woman of my age than try desperately to look 30.

How lucky have we been that the face of baseball for the past two decades, through ups and downs, has been Derek Jeter.

Decide where and when you want to write. I like space, and silence is an inspiration to me.

When people ask me about being portrayed onscreen by Leonardo DiCaprio, I always say, 'I love it - no matter how old I get, people are going to think that's what I look like.

A single fantasy can transform a million realities.

If I am young, then you should look not to age but to deeds.