“Writing the past is never a neutral act. Writing always asks the past ...” — Andre Aciman Quote

“Writing the past is never a neutral act. Writing always asks the past to justify itself, to give its reasons... provided we can live with the reasons. What we want is a narrative, not a log; a tale, not a trial. This is why most people write memoirs using the conventions not of history, but of fiction.”

“Some people have an identity. I have an alibi. I have a shadow self.”

“It is Proust's implacable honesty, his reluctance to cut corners or to articulate what might have been good enough or credible enough in any other writer that make him the introspective genius he is.”

“Don't all writers have a hidden nerve, call it a secret chamber, something irreducibly theirs, which stirs their prose and makes it tick and turn this way or that, and identifies them, like a signature, though it lurks far deeper than their style, or their voice or other telltale antics?”

“'My Night at Maud's,' 'Claire's Knee,' 'Chloe in the Afternoon' are grafted onto my life.”

“As far as 'Twilight' goes, I'm in love with my character. I'm in love with the whole series. I love doing the fan conventions around the world, I love to travel. So wherever it fits in, I'd love to continue doing that for the rest of my life. Just meeting the fans who made everything possible from around the world.”

“When we speak of institutions, economists mean more than just organizations. We mean conventions, even rules, about how things are done.”

“I had this almost secret life of going to 'Star Wars' conventions because,' when I was younger, Star Wars' had phased into the uncool part of its life and had yet to become cool again for everybody else.”

“I think my favourite thing about doing conventions is the parents taking their kids to see their favourite drag idols, because open-minded, progressive parents are making such a change in the world right now. The more open-minded these kids are being raised, the more hope I have for the future.”

“Women throughout history have had to defy rigid conventions about what is and is not expected of them.”