“[Her] work taught me that you could be all the traditional feminine things -- a mother, a lover, a listener, a nurturer -- and you could also be critically astute and radical and have a minority opinion that was profoundly moral.”

“All I could do was to offer you an opinion upon one minor point — a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”

“Yes, life could be better. But it could also be worse. Don’t believe me? Allow me introduce you to my mother-in-law.”

“He wanted to make her laugh. He wanted to sit and listen to her talk about books until his ears fell off. But all these were things he could not want, because they were things he could not have, and wanting what you could not have led to misery and madness.”

“Those who defend traditional morality will sometimes admit that it is not perfect, but contend that any criticism will make all morality crumble.”

“You were listening to some strangers when you could have benn listening to me talk about myself? Chelsea, how could you?”