As Oedipus learned, the more you run away from what is predetermined the more you run toward it.

What we do is a wonder, an art, and we have a responsibility to do it well.

Keep in mind that television, magazines, movies, and even newspapers rarely show images of average-shaped bodies.

Is there a secret? Yes. Anaïs Nin and Pauline Réage and Anne Rampling and Erica Jong all knew it. E. L. James knows it. It is the secret behind all of our writing. And our reading. Arousal starts in the mind. And grows in the mind. The brain is the most erogenous zone in a woman’s body. That is our secret. And it is what we share.

Perfume is magic. It's mystery. We recreate the smell of a flower. Of wood. Of grass. We capture the essence of life. Liquefy it. We store memories. We make dreams.

There's no one thing you can do to have success, but if you have a plan and you keep doing things, you'll eventually build to a success.

More than 3,500 hardcover novels are published each year. Even the most avid reader buys fewer than one a week.