Existentialism is about being a saint without God being your own hero, without all the sanction and support of religion or society. – Anita Brookner
Life… is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game. There tends to be unfinished business. One trails all sorts of things around with one, things that simply wont be got rid of. – Anita Brookner
Accountability in friendship is the equivalent of love without strategy. – Anita Brookner
Good women always think it is their fault when someone else is being offensive. Bad women never take the blame for anything. – Anita Brookner
In the traditional urban novel, there is only survival or not. The suburban idea, the conformist idea, that agony can be seen to and cured by doctors or psychoanalysis or self-knowledge is nowhere to be found in the city. Talking is a way of life, but it is not a cure. Same with religion. – Jane Smiley