The quickest way to stop noticing something may be to buy it, just as the quickest way to stop appreciating a person may be to marry them.

Anyone suffering Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms will find an instant tonic.

In death, we are not defined by what we did or who we were but by what we meant to others. How well we loved and were loved in return.

Men worry about childcare with their wallets, women feel it in their wombs.

I forget the derivation of Boxing Day, but the feeling of wanting to invite your loved ones outside one at a time and punch them in the face, does that come into it somewhere?

God probably thinks it’s worth giving a sense of humor only to those of us who have to laugh at all the rubbish bits that are wrong with us.

When you have kids, there's a tendency to put the marriage stew on the back burner and give it a quick stir now and then. But it's important to remember why you had children with this person.

Working mothers' laughter comes hardest when our double life is revealed for what it is: a juggling act in which the balls can drop at any time, invariably on our own head.

The best musicians answer something in you when you don't even know the question.

Death itself is too big to take in, she already sees that; the loss comes at you instead in an infinite number of small installments that can never be paid off.

The software program for motherhood is impossible to fully download into the male brain. You give them two tasks and they're like, 'I have to change the baby and get the dry cleaning?'

Now you also know what it is to be wanted and loved.

There will be certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled.

Many armies fail because they put all their emphasis into creating a plan that becomes useless ten minutes into the battle

The moon is so beautiful. It's a big silver dollar, flipped by God. And it landed scarred side up, see? So He made the world.

Only poetry or madness could do justice to the noises.

To be good to yourself ... Sometimes it seems that takes a special talent all its own.

It was my life, playing Juliet. From that moment on I was convinced I was going to be an actress. That was all I really wanted to do.

Respect, recognition, and reward flow out of performance.

There's this total manwhore phenomenon happening, where even the geeks are player now. It's like Manhattan is this giant playground and guys want to keep playing forever.

It's okay if you finish cooking something easy after your guests arrive - some dishes must be prepared a la minute, as chefs say. Just remember to keep talking.