She will speculate that she didn’t fully know her husband—this will give her leverage to seek him, to come to know him. It will keep her husband “alive” in her memory—elusive, teasing.

Hospital vigils inspire us to such nostalgia. Hospital vigils take place in slow-time during which the mind floats free, a frail balloon drifting into the sky as into infinity.

That I was sleeping at a time when my husband was dying is so horrible a thought, I can’t confront it.

How exhausted I am suddenly!—though this has been Ray’s best day in the hospital so far, and we are feeling—almost—exhilarated.

It is the most horrific thought—my husband died among strangers.

The coolly calibrated manipulation of the credulous American public, by an administration bent upon stoking paranoid patriotism!

The gardener is the quintessential optimist: not only does he believe that the future will bear out the fruits of his efforts, he believes in the future.

For writing is a solitary occupation, and one of its hazards is loneliness. But an advantage of loneliness is privacy, autonomy, freedom.

It is utterly naive, futile, uninformed—to think that our species is exceptional. So designated to master the beasts of the Earth, as in the Book of Genesis!

Love me like Saturday night, like three glasses of champagne, like the room is spinning, like you're drunk on my love.

Forgiveness and Blame share an apartment, but not for long, because Blame can’t live with Forgiveness, and Forgiveness can’t live with Blame.

Protect your garden. Some come as weeds disguised as flowers.

The only atheism is the denial of truth.

I really wanted a wonderful, traditional home for my kid.

There's something in science like the shine of the Patronus Charm, driving back all sorts of darkness and madness.

When I'm in meetings until 5am and then have to get up two hours later for filming, sometimes I ask myself 'why?'

Let each man have according to his deserts.

I must be more sensible and realize that at my age, illusions are hardly permitted and they will always destroy me.

We are haunted by an ideal life, and it is because we have within us the beginning and the possibility of it.