Quotes from Mona Simpson

Writers collect stories of rituals: John Cheever putting on a jacket and tie to go down to the basement, where he kept a desk near the boiler room. Keats buttoning up his clean white shirt to write in, after work.

I suppose 'My Hollywood' is only as politically meaningful as it is deeply inside the least powerful of its characters. I wanted it to reveal scenes of subtle exploitation, odd instances of accidental power and challenges to decency specific to its time, but also impulses of generosity that transcend our particular era's messes.

The transparency men have enjoyed for generations, about their ability to frankly work while also reveling in fatherhood, is still complicated for women. Which is not to say that anyone can have everything.

Casebook is my attempt at a love story. I had a vision of a difficult love.

I knew I would hate my best memory because it would prove that people could fake love or that love could end or worst of all, love was not powerful enough to change a life.

Love ruined people's lives, the way our parents said drugs could.

The more you learn about animals and animal rights - it's an intriguing, fascinating world.

In our national mythology, we seem to include only one-way migrations to the great capitol cities. The journey from the small Wisconsin town or Minnesota city to Chicago or New York or Los Angeles. Certainly for some people, that journey is a round trip.

Instead of a dedicated room, my best trigger is the actual habit of reading over the texts from the day before. Marking. Changing. Fussing. This ritual amounts to a habit of trust. Trust that I can make it better. That if I keep trying, I will come closer to something true.

I knew I would hate my best memory because it would prove that people could fake love or that love could end or worst of all, love was not powerful enough to change a life.

And even if you hate her, can't stand her, even if she's ruining your life, there's something about her, some romance, some power. She's absolutely herself. No matter how hard you try, you'll never get to her. And when she dies, the world will be flat, too simple, reasonable, fair.

He was a man too busy to flush toilets.

Prologue: There are three wants which can never be satisfied: that of the rich wanting more, that of the sick, wanting something different, and that of the traveler, who says, anywhere but here. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Too many times I'd left him reaching for me, from a babysitter's arms. Am I still a mother? I asked myself... What parts of the day could I cut out and still give him enough? Paul never asked himself that. He thought he was a great dad.

Maybe she'd always wished to be beautiful and didn't quite dare to, because she could tell that people didn't say she was and more attention was given to other women, but she still had a frail hope that there'd been a mistake and she was after all.

So many things that seemed crucial and excruciatingly hard ended and then didn't matter anymore, forever after

Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary? Does it improve upon the silence?

We come into the world whole, all of us,but we don't know that, don't know that life will be taking large chunks out of us, forever.

The way Eli looked at her, my dad looked at the food.

These stories depressed me. Love ruined people's lives, the way our parents said drugs could.

The trouble with serenity is that it can then. The trees seem to lose their souls and look again like painted scenery.

Lina bolted up in the morning, thinking she'd slept in. She pined for regular days, which used to include heat, bees, a messy room, songs, a crush. Now she would never have them again.

Once, Lina's mom had come home with a pantsuit for Lina, a Theodore knockoff. Lina had stuffed it in the back of her drawer. It mattered to her not to try.

That's what you do. You find the best angle. You crop. You edit. That's not cheating. That's love.