The vast Pacific ocean would always remain the islanders' great solace, escape and nourishment, the amniotic fluid that would keep them hedonistic and aloof, guarded, gentle and mysterious.

We write out of revenge against reality, to dream and enter the lives of others.

One learns much more by writing fiction, because the insights come from those deeper subconscious levels where the greater and more interesting truths lie.

Americans and their desire to be novelists, the American novel should be listed in medical dictionaries alongside Megalomania and Obsessional Neuroses.

Only friends will tell you the truths you need to hear to make your life bearable.

Why are there no great women artists?' sounds as ignorant of human geography as the query 'Why are there no Eskimo tennis teams?

I shall never cease to marvel at the way we beg for love and tyranny.

All our parents have levels of deviousness. We're driven to write about this discrepancy between the bright shining selves they invented and the monsters lurking underneath.

Art is both a vengeance against reality and a reconciliation with it.

I venture that those of us who are most serene when faced with the possibility of nothingness are the ones who've reached furthest to the downward and upward of their beings.

As to why people like Joseph Lelyveld are writing memoirs, I think they're just catching on the coattails of the trend.

I am selfish by habit, but sacrificial by nature. Therefore, I’d be wise to develop the habit of following my nature.

Sweetheart, Is today the day you run away alone in fear? Or the day you have the balls to trust in our friendship? Trust in the four of us. Together

To make certain that crime does not pay the government should take it over and try to run it.

In the perfect state the good man is absolutely the same as the good citizen; whereas in other states the good citizen is only good relatively to his own form of government.

Nothing will ever equal that moment of exhilaration which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss.

Winners use words that say 'must' and 'will'.

I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.

It can be boring to see the same players winning every time.

Typing in all lowercase is popular among young people, SMS users, and anyone who feels literacy has become too time-consuming.

Don't take too long, Mrs. Cullen