... everyone must play his role.

Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!

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

But what I hope for from a book - either one that I write or one that I read - is transparency. I want the story to shine through. I don't want to think of the writer.

It seems to me that since I've had children, I've grown richer and deeper. They may have slowed down my writing for a while, but when I did write, I had more of a self to speak from.

It is not how much you love someone, but who you are when you are with him.

The Amateur Marriage grew out of the reflection that of all the opportunities to show differences in character, surely an unhappy marriage must be the richest.

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

Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.

The hardest novel to write was Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant.

Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.

...but beautiful mosaics are made of broken pieces.

Call it devilish or divine, but once a man lets a thought become prevalent, it turns into reality.

I think pressure when you work is good. It forces you to take risks and to do other things.

Worry is an intrusion into God's providence.

If we live inside a bad joke, it is up to us to learn, at best and worst, to tell it well.

I think it's one of my favourite theatres ever, so quirky and wonderful and steeped in history. The space is wonderful and the acoustics are brilliant.

To do good whenever one can, to love liberty above all else, never to deny the truth, even though it be before the throne.

I hope that some day scientists can be considered heroes again, instead of Paris Hilton.

What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people.