One of the marks of a truly great mind, I had discovered, is the ability to feign stupidity on demand.

Whenever I'm out-of-doors and find myself wanting to have a first-rate think, I fling myself down on my back, throw my arms and legs out so that I look like an asterisk, and gaze at the sky.

I always knew that I wanted to work on my own material - something that would be more long-lasting than short-lived electronic transmissions.

Although it is pleasant to think about poison at any season, there is something special about Christmas, and I found myself grinning.

I was learning that among friends, a smile can be better than a belly laugh.

I'm at that age where I watch such things with two minds, one that cackles at these capers and another that never gets much beyond a rather jaded and self-conscious smile, like the Mona Lisa.

What intrigued me more than anything else was finding out the way in which everything, all of creation - all of it! - was held together by invisible chemical bonds, and I found a strange, inexplicable comfort in knowing that somewhere, even though we couldn't see it in our own world, there was a real stability.