Quotes from Susan Isaacs

I've never been able to understand this generation's infatuation with using last names a first names.

It has always been my belief that Protestants, born with innate knowledge of all things botanical, cannot help but think less of you if you have to ask.

The Williamsburg Bridge — a structure that does not inspire confidence in the profession of civil engineering.

An excess of fiction could make reality seem supremely dull with its crappy dialogue and lack of coincidences

No," I said. "He's a Rabinowitz. He's a semi-decent

wanted his freedom. But then you could

It's no coincidence that I began writing the day my daughter started school. I knew everything I knew before I began to write, but I was raising two children and didn't have the time to get to the typewriter.

I hate when people say, 'Oh, they laughed all the way to the bank.' That's nonsense because the most cynical, unhappy people are Hollywood screenwriters. They earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for work that's never made.

There are days where I lose track of time, of place, of everything else, because I've been transported to another universe.

Everyone has early fiction fantasies, but it wasn't until my second child Betsy was born that I allowed the urge to write a novel bubble up.

At the beginning, I really wanted to be home with my kid. I was a product of my generation. But in the suburbs, you are very isolated, really alone.

With my middle-class metabolism, the suburbs were where I always wanted to be.

Being a novelist is the adult version of a kid creating a make-believe world. But unlike a child, a writer of fiction has to come up with a structured story, one that has as much meaning for others as it has for her.

Just as you can accept Miss Marple going to tea with the vicar, there's no reason why Long Island can't have a universality to it.

Whether you're an obstetrician or a third-grade teacher or a real estate agent, you know when you're doing good work. You're passionate about it.

For a novelist, no matter what, it's a complete work, even if it's not published. But if you write a screenplay, and it's not performed, then it's a sad and frustrating experience.

I must have been yearning for some Jewish content beyond my genetic makeup because soon after my 21st birthday, I noticed I was no longer dating WASPs.

As soon as someone is coming from New York, I automatically think I have to get dressed up.