I was filled with angst in college, that I struggled with the question of my future, the meaning of my life - spoiled sheltered rich girl collides with great books and is devastated by her own banality. Elizabeth Kostova More Quotes by Elizabeth Kostova More Quotes From Elizabeth Kostova My publishers are wonderful because they have let me write what I wanted to. They're wise enough to know that, with any author who's not simply writing formulas - who's trying to create something new - pressuring them to do something for market purposes almost always backfires. I can't imagine working under those circumstances, actually. Elizabeth Kostova wise writing trying No book that is written for an external purpose is going to be a passionately felt book for the writer or the reader. I don't see the point in doing that. Elizabeth Kostova reader purpose book Bulgarians eat tarator every single day in summer. They think of it as salad although we'd call it a soup. You can make it as thick or thin as you like depending on how much water you add. It's very practical in summer because yogurt cools the body faster than water, but the water hydrates you. Elizabeth Kostova summer water thinking I wasn't brought up to be dazzled by money or fame. Elizabeth Kostova fame I love to cook and I've cooked a lot of Bulgarian food over the years. Elizabeth Kostova bulgarians cooks years My guess is that he remembers some of me, some of us together, and the rest rolled off him like topsoil in a flash flood. Elizabeth Kostova topsoil together remember If there is any good in life, in history, in my own past, I invoke it now. I invoke it with all the passion with which I have lived. Elizabeth Kostova my-own passion past I've noticed Dracula was often as practical a fellow as he was a nasty one. Elizabeth Kostova fellows practicals nasty For the first time, I had been struck by the excitement of the traveler who looks history in her subtle face. Elizabeth Kostova faces looks firsts I wondered why she craved this knowledge and found myself remembering that she was, after all, an anthropologist. Elizabeth Kostova anthropologists found remember Sometimes people damage paintings or sculpture because they love it. They throw their arms around a statue in a fit of hysterical passion and it falls over. Elizabeth Kostova passion people fall