“A fair woman is a paradise to the eye, a purgatory to the purse,and hell to the soul.”

“I resolved to break the barren soil of my fruitless brain.”

“Icebergs behoove the soul (both being self-made from elements least visible) to see themselves: fleshed, fair, erected, indivisible.”

“Talking to them was like being placed into conversational purgatory, with no hope of being released without significant damage to one's self-esteem.”

“The fact that this was a fairly accurate portrait of my own mother is a quick indicator of how difficult it once was for me to tell the difference between myself and the powerful woman who had raised me.”

“It was a paradise of learning, and I prayed for eventual admission.”

“Rich women live at such a distance from life that very often they never see their money — the Queen, they say, for instance, never carries a purse.”