Kate Christensen

The male muse is an unaccountably rare thing in art. Where does that leave female artists looking for inspiration?

As my family saw them, men were untrustworthy, weak, and selfish. Our mother taught us to get along without them, to get along without much of anything, and to live well and have fun anyway.

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Under its influence, ordinary songs take on dimensions and powers, like emotional superheroes.

It is hardly surprising that women concentrate on the way they look instead of what is in their minds since not much has been put in their minds to begin with.

I don't want to get into autobiographies; I don't want to talk about myself.

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of other approaches.