It makes you wonder why we bother accumulating, accumulating, when we know from earliest childhood how it’s all going to end.

Not until the final draft do I force myself to remember that I'm going to have to think about how it will affect other people.

I'm too shy for personal appearances, and I've found out that anytime I talk about my writing, I can't do any writing for many weeks afterward.

Justine hated pantsuits. Whenever she saw one, she had an urge to tell the owner some scandalous fortune, loudly enough to be heard everywhere: 'The father of your next-to-last baby has run off with a cigar-smoking redhead.

I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.

It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice.