“A good editor is like a pair of Spanx: firming up the body, making the subject look good, and absolutely invisible.”

“There are plenty of bad editors who try to impose their own vision on a book. (…)A good novel editor is invisible.”

“Going beyond sarcasm straight to out-and-out insult is delicious, like wriggling out of a pair of Spanx.”

“He looked like a sexy ninja. Or a tiger ready to pounce on his prey. She just looked like she was sitting sideways on an invisible toilet. Curse the male species for making danger look so good!”

“Well, I don’t. Not absolutely. But adopting "making money’’ as the goal of a manufacturing organization looks like a pretty good assumption. Because, for one thing, there isn’t one item on that list that’s worth a damn if the company isn’t making money.”

“Good art is like a sexy pair of lips—it has the potential to say so much, but prefers to have you do all the talking about it. Also, good art is fun to kiss and make out with (especially statues and portraits).”