At my age, people prefer to stay in a relationship that is not working. I do not understand that. I think it takes a lot of courage to separate. But it takes more energy to stay in something that is not working. Isabel Allende More Quotes by Isabel Allende More Quotes From Isabel Allende I tend to see the similarities in people and not the differences. Isabel Allende similarity differences people I like historical fiction. I fell in love with New Orleans the first time I visited it. And I wanted to place a story in New Orleans. Isabel Allende new-orleans historical stories Cooking can be like foreplay. Isabel Allende cooking I'm interested in people who have to overcome obstacles, people who are not sheltered by the umbrella of the establishment, marginals. Isabel Allende obstacles overcoming people Photographs deceive time, freezing it on a piece of cardboard where the soul is silent. Isabel Allende pieces photography soul There is no death, daughter. Isabel Allende daughter forget people Feminism has never been sexy, but let me assure you that it never stopped me from flirting, and I have seldom suffered from lack of men. Isabel Allende flirting sexy men People think that they will sit down and produce the great American novel in one sitting. It doesn't work that way. This is a very patient and meticulous work, and you have to do it with joy and love for the process, not for the outcome. Isabel Allende joy people thinking Sex is the instrument and love the music. Isabel Allende instruments and-love sex I have learned many things in the 30 years that I have been writing. Isabel Allende i-have-learned writing years Writing is my job. I don't think of it as art. Isabel Allende writing jobs art All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them. Isabel Allende ends stories writing Wishes and fears are illusions, Dil Bahadur, not realities. You must practice detachment. Isabel Allende practice fear reality The fact people think that when you sell a lot of books you are not a serious writer is a great insult to the readership. I get a little angry when people try to say such a thing. Isabel Allende book people thinking My writing comes not from the happy moments, but from struggle and grief. Isabel Allende grief struggle writing Humanity has this need to hear stories because they connect us with other people, they teach us about our own feelings. We feel less lonely when we see other people going through the same things, even if they're fictional characters. Isabel Allende lonely character people When love exists, nothing else matters, not life’s predicaments, not the fury of the years, not a physical winding down or scarcity of opportunity. Isabel Allende scarcity opportunity years I have a hundred-year-old aunt who aspires to sainthood, and whose only wish has been to go into the convent, but no congregation, not even the Little Sisters of Charity, could tolerate her for more than a few weeks, so the family has had to look after her. Believe me, there is nothing so insufferable as a saint, I wouldn't sic one on my worst enemy. Isabel Allende aunt worst-enemy believe I've been so thoroughly incorporated into the California culture that I practice meditation and go to a therapist, even though I always set a trap: during my meditation I invent stories to keep from being bored, and in therapy I invent stories to keep from boring the psychologist. Isabel Allende california bored practice This is to assuage our conscience, darling" she would explain to Blanca. "But it doesn't help the poor. They don't need chartiy; they need justice. Isabel Allende justice helping needs