“I had been alone more than I could have been had I gone by myself.”

“I had hoped, at my departure, I would feel sure and knowledgeable about everything that lay ahead -- after all, I had been "analyzed." Instead, all I could see were question marks.”

“I have been holding a dialogue with myself and girding myself to stand fast without running.”

“I had decided I would put off the novel until I had gone to Europe and had a lover.”

“The trouble was, I had been inadequate all along, I simply hadn't thought about it.”

“I decided I would put off the novel until I had gone to Europe and had a lover, and that I would never learn a word of shorthand. If I never learned shorthand I would never have to use it.”

“I felt very low. I had been unmasked only that morning by Jay Cee herself, and I felt now that all the uncomfortable suspicions I had about myself were coming true. After nineteen years of running after good marks and prizes and grants of one sort and another, I was letting up, slowing down, dropping clean out of race.”