One of the saddest realities is that we never know when our lives are at their peak. Only after it is over and we have some kind of perspective do we realize how good we had it a day, a month, five years ago.

Very often I'll find out at the end of a book what I put in at the beginning. A sort of process of elimination and discovery in one.

Everyone coming out of a perfume store is smelling the back of their hand.

The Viennese wash everything. Where else in the world does the government hire public servants to wash public telephone booths and the glass over traffic lights? Every time I see someone doing these things, I smile like a child.