The best Quotes by Joan Didion

The apparent ease of California life is an illusion, and those who believe the illusion real live here in only the most temporary way.

Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.

Late afternoon on the West Coast ends with the sky doing all its brilliant stuff.

To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.

I have always wanted a swimming pool and never had one.

There are many harsh lessons to be learned from the gambling experience, but the harshest one of all is the difference between having Fun and being Smart.

I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Some may never live, but the crazy never die.

Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond.

The surest cure for vanity is loneliness.

People complain about my exclamation points, but I honestly think that's the way people think. I don't think people think in essays; it's one exclamation point to another.

Love is the ultimate expression of the will to live.

Miami is a melting pot in which none of the stones melt. They rattle around.

There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves.

California has officially announced that jaywalking is now no longer a crime. So congratulations to the Californians who like walking places. This is great news for the six of you.

New Mexico. It's another state. I mean, it's like California, just less traffic.

We all have our little faults. Mine's in California.

All creative people should be required to leave California for three months every year.

Helsinki may not be as cold as you make it out to be, but California is still a lot nicer. I don't remember the last time I couldn't walk around in shorts all day.

Things are tough all over, cupcake. An' it rains on the just an' the unjust alike... except in California.

I read the Life magazine articles about free love and free dope in California. At age 20 I drove to Los Angeles.

That's the great thing about California, you can almost go to the mountains and almost go to the beach on the same day.

No wonder the city never sleeps, it's too busy trying to get laid.

There are eight million people in this city. And those teeming masses exist for the sole purpose of lifting the few exceptional people onto their shoulders.

If I can make it there
I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you
New York, New York

Manhattan, for millions of our forefathers, the gateway to hope, opportunity and happiness beyond their wildest dreams. Today, that hope is still alive, it's called "The First Date". On Saturday nights, every restaurant in Lower Manhattan resembles its own little Ellis Island.

I want to wake up in that city
That doesn't sleep
And find I'm king of the hill
Top of the heap

In a city that moves so fast, you get the Sunday paper on Saturday - how did any of us know how much time we had left?

In the Sacramento of the 1950s, it was as though White simply hadn't had time enough to figure Brown out. It was a busy white time. Brown was like the skinny or fat kids left over after the team captains chose sides. You take the rest - my cue to wander away to the sidelines, to wander away.

Silicon Valley is 130 miles from Sacramento, but it might as well be a million miles away given how it operates.

I love Sacramento. I consider this home.

I can promise you that when I go to Sacramento I will pump up Sacramento.

Around 1988 in Sacramento, it was a time of a real good growth spurt. I mean, people were buying houses, and new developments were coming about.

Sacramento, I won't stay. But I'll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May.

One candidate is too old and mentally unfit to be president. The other one is me.