“If one is a woman writer, there are certain things one must do. First, not be too good; second, die young, what an edge Katherine Mansfield has on all of us; third, commit suicide like Virginia Woolf. To go on writing and writing well just can’t be forgiven.”

~ Rebecca West

“I love being a writer. What I can’t stand is the paperwork.”

~ Peter De Vries

“Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, just as the wind blows out a candle and fans a fire.”

~ La Rochefoucauld