Quotes from Nora Ephron

I was alive during the women's lib movement, and I do not remember anyone taking a position against cooking. I think they were talking about other things.

What my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you.

Writing is what I do. It's like breathing to me at a certain point, but if I couldn't write, I do like cooking.

You can never have too much butter - that is my belief. If I have a religion, that's it.

I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like... magic.

No one is more romantic than a cynic. I do think that you don't become cynical or 'unsentimental' unless there's a core of romanticism or sentiment that's had a few chips nicked into it.

The only way to learn is to keep doing something new, and, if you're lucky, learning with people who really know how to do it.

Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.

Denial has been a way of life for me for many years. I actually believe in denial.

Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.

One good thing I'd like to say about divorce is that it sometimes makes it possible for you to be a much better wife to your next husband because you have a place for your anger - it's not directed at the person you're currently with.

I have always thought it was a terrible shame that the women's movement didn't realise how much easier it was to reach people by making them laugh than by shaking a fist and saying, 'Don't you see how oppressed you are?'

I think when you get older, things come along that you know are a test in some way of your ability to stay with it. And when e-mail came along, I was just going to fall in love with it. And I did. I can't believe it now - it's like one of those ex-husbands that you think, 'What was I thinking?'

Every 10 years or so, there was a moment when I'd say, even subconsciously, 'Is that all there is?' You've got to find ways to keep it fresh for yourself.

Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.

Success comes and goes. Your flops stay with you for life.

You're born, you die. Everything in between is subject to interpretation.

You can't retrieve you life (unless you're on Wikipedia, in which case you can retrieve an inaccurate version of it).

Here are some questions I am constantly fretting over: Do you splurge, or do you hoard? Do you live every day as if it's your last, or do you save your money on the chance you'll live 20 more years? Is life too short, or is it going to be too long?

Nothing like mashed potatoes when you're feeling blue. Nothing like getting into bed with a bowl of hot mashed potatoes already loaded with butter, and methodically adding a thin, cold slice of butter to every forkful.

The realization that I may have only a few good years remaining has hit me with real force, and I have done a lot of thinking as a result. I would like to have come up with something profound, but I haven't.

I have now been married to my third husband for more than 20 years. But when you've had children with someone you're divorced from, divorce defines everything; it's the lurking fact, a slice of anger in the pie of your brain.

I don't think any day is worth living without thinking about what you're going to eat next at all times.

Directing movies is the best job there is, that's all. I can hardly say a word after that. It's just a great job.