Jeffrey Eugenides

“Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in 'sadness,' 'joy,' or 'regret.'”

“Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind.”

“The bigger the mistake, the better the story.”

“We knew, finally, that the girls were really women in disguise, that they understood love and even death, and that our job was merely to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them.”

“Depression is like a headache or a toothache. It's a symptom of something else that's wrong. The depression is not the problem.”

“Can you be a good person and spend your life making things that don't help other people?”

“In the end, it wasn't death that surprised her but the stubbornness of life.”

“The clarifying process of writing is a wonderful thing. I think that's what I love most about writing. It's this beautiful, clarifying process that allows me to come to an understanding of things.”

“What are you going to do with your life? In the 1950s, it was easy to answer that question. You were going to get married and have kids. That was your life.”

“History was a wave that moved through the generations, requiring that a generation respond.”

“Marriage is a conspiracy, not a love affair.”

“You loved me. You were my first love. I am a different person because of you.”

“The strange thing about telling a story is that you never get to find out what happens.”

“Essentially, the mercenary sets morality aside, or at least relocates it so that it is defined by the needs of the employer.”

“There are some people who don't have to be in your life every day to be a part of it.”