"When did women whose looks are not their living start conducting themselves like the simpering inmates of an Ottoman empire seraglio?"

"Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death's perfect punctuation mark is a smile."

"We are used to female writers who use their private lives as unmitigated material being somewhat hormonal this somehow 'excuses' what might be seen as a highly unfeminine ability to turn their personal upsets into money."

"Women, more often than not, do things which aren't remotely relaxing but are all about preening, which is just another sort of work."

"I think that everybody in the world, whatever colour or creed, has a jerk like JR in his or her family somewhere. Whether it is a father, uncle, cousin or brother, everybody can identify with JR and that certainly had something to do with the success of 'Dallas.'"

"The first-born in every family is always dreaming for an imaginary older brother or sister who will look out for them."

"America's a family. We all yell at each other. It all works out."

"We were never a family that had a lot. We had enough, but not a lot."