Shakespeare doesn't really write subtext, you play the subtext.
Statuettes of drunken sailors, velvet pictures of island maidens, plastic seashell lamps made in Taiwan. What contempt the people who think up souvenirs have for other people.
But novels are never about what they are about; that is, there is always deeper, or more general, significance. The author may not be aware of this till she is pretty far along with it. A novel's whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.
Women have the feeling that since they didn't make the rules, the rules have nothing to do with them.
. . . is this not in fact the purpose of young Americans going abroad? To make them think of things they never thought of?
Not having to own a car has made me realize what a waste of time the automobile is.
Any essayist setting out on a frail apparatus of notings and jottings is a brave person.
Traditional British desserts with lots of custard are my biggest weakness - I particularly love the puds at St. John restaurant in East London.
From New Hampshire forward, for reasons that absolutely mystified me, the press thought the most important issue in the race was the middle class tax cut. I never did meet any voter who thought that.
Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human.
Being brave was easy when you would rather die than give up.