I have not ceased being fearful but I have ceased to let fear control me.

You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy.

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.

And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more.

I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back.

The stones themselves are thick with history, and those cats that dash through the alleyways must surely be the ghosts of the famous dead in feline disguise.

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.

Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.

Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.

How wonderful to have someone to blame! How wonderful to live with one's nemesis! You may be miserable, but you feel forever in the right.

My generation was not only maligned in book reviews and attacked in graduate school but we lived to see our adored and adorable daughters wonder why feminism had become a dirty word.

There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day.

Expect progress, not perfection.

As for oblivion, well, we can wait a little while for that.

This man is frank and earnest with women. In Fresno, he's Frank and in Chicago he's Ernest.

The world is over-armed and peace is under-funded.

Murder, arson, adultery, drugging and drinking, cruel politics--reading a book crammed with such activities can make the timid and yearning among us feel like the happiest people in the world.

If I'd been easily discouraged, I could have been a one-hit wonder

I only write books about dead people. They can't sue.

Getting into music has changed my personality and way of doing things. I'm far more open now.

My mom taught me German before I knew English. And I went to French immersion school.