To die quickly in one's eighth decade at the very top of one's powers is an enviable end, and not an occasion for mourning.

The guns of the big events rumble through our pages, but the tiny firecrackers are constantly hissing and popping there as well; it appears that much of my life as a journalist has been devoted to sedulously setting off firecrackers.

Obscenity is a notable enhancer of life and is suppressed at grave peril to the arts.

It is in the nature of the New Yorker to be as topical as possible, on a level that is often small in scale and playful in intention.

I will try to cram these paragraphs full of facts and give them a weight and shape no greater than that of a cloud of blue butterflies.

We must all face the fact that in a single lifetime we lead several simultaneous lives; our intention should be to make them reinforce one another instead of colliding.

Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.