Over the past 10 years I have placed in my novels the names of more than two dozen close friends and family. The names I chose are always those of people I care for or respect.

Sooner or later we've all got to let go of our past.

There is a statistic I heard a number of years ago: if you know somebody who is 85 years old, that person was born into a world that had a third as many people as the world does today. The population has tripled in the past 85 years.

I think I was a shy kid. I grew up without television. I had a dog, and we lived up in the White Mountains in the summer, and I had no friends up there. And I would just go play hide-and-seek with my dog and probably had some imaginary friends.

I think there's pressure, period, regardless of the past successes or failures of any of my friends,

I think I had some troubles in the past just because (we) were friends, Fed Cup team-mates, just know each other so well, spend so much time together,