“Men are generally more law-abiding than women. Women have the feeling that since they didn't make the rules, the rules have nothing to do with them. ”

“It didn't seem fair that you could not prevent being the object of other people's emotions, you were not safe from their hate--or from their love, for that matter. You were never safe from being invaded by their feelings when you wanted only to be rid of them, free, off, away.”

“Nothing appeals to intellectuals more than the feeling that they represent 'the people'. Nothing, as a rule, is further from the truth”

“Statuettes of drunken sailors, velvet pictures of island maidens, plastic seashell lamps made in Taiwan. What contempt the people who think up souvenirs have for other people.”

“Laughter is the jam on the toast of life. It adds flavor, keeps it from being too dry, and makes it easier to swallow.”

“Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.”

“There is a rule for fantasy writers: The more truth you mix in with a lie, the stronger it gets.”