Nothing can be beautiful which is not true.
Writers of novels live in a strange world where what's made up is as important as what's real.
The law don't like jazz clubs. No one wants anything to do with that kind of trouble.
I always thought that bagels and lox was my soul food, but it turns out it's sushi.
I had never really understood what an adventure life could be, if you followed your heart and did what you really wanted to do, which is what we must all do in the end.
For me, writing stories set, well, wherever they're best set, is a form of cultural curiosity that is uniquely Scottish - we're famous for travelling in search of adventure.
I find it inspiring to actively choose which traditions to celebrate and also come up with new ideas for traditions of my own.
Humans tend to segregate the world: enemies on one side, friends on the other. Friends are the people we know. Enemies are the Other. You can do just about anything to the Other. It doesn't matter if this Other is actually guilty of any crimes, because it is a matter of emotion, not logic. You see angry people aren't interested in justice, they just want an excuse to vent their rage.
Rarest of all is the man who can and does reason at all times, quickly, accurately, inclusively, despite hope or fear or bodily distress, without egocentric bias or thalmic disturbance, with correct memory, with clear distinction between fact, assumption, and non-fact.
As I look back I know that most of the mistakes I have made have come when I didn't listen to myself, when I didn't trust my instincts. . . I believe you need to listen, carefully, to hear your inner voice. And then, you have to do what it says.
I have a hole where my heart should be, she thought, and nowhere else to go.