“I've been feeling downI've been looking round the townFor somebody just like meBut the only ones I seeAre the dummies in the windowThey spend their money on clothesIt saddens me to thinkThat the only ones I see are mannequinsLooking stupid, being used and being thinAnd I don't know why I hang around with them.The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused.”

“For careers you say you went to be remembered for your artYour obsessions get you known throughout the school for being strangeMaking life-size models of the Velvet Underground in clay”

“I loved Duncan and I loved being his mother but I wasn't sure I was prepared to be only his mother. Before we were even married, when Russell and I had gotten our dog, Humbert, I had walked him early one morning, and as I stood on a line for coffee, someone had offered him a dog treat. "I always ask the mommy first," she said, looking at him expectantly. "Oh, I'm not his mother," I said, "I'm just his...friend," and she looked at me with complete contempt. "You're his mother," she had scolded, "Poor dog.”

“I don't like being rumbled, I like to be invisible.”

“Have you ever been lonely? No, neither have I. Solitary, yes. Alone, certainly. But lonely means minding about being on your own. I've never minded about it.”

“Why do I love writing YA? Because I get a chance to re-live my youth knowing all I know now...”

“I have wanted only one thing to make me happy. That thing is everything.”