My own opinion is enough for me. And I claim the right to defend it against any consensus, any majority anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line and kiss my ass.

I burned the candle at both ends and it often gave a lovely light.

I can't compose or play music; I'm not that fortunate. But I can write and I can talk and sometimes when I'm doing either of these things I realize that I've written a sentence or uttered a thought that I didn't absolutely know I had in me... until I saw it on the page or heard myself say it.

The fact is: It's true what they say about the United States. It is a land of opportunity. It is too various to get bored with it.

Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.

History is a tragegy, not a morality tale.

The human wish to credit good things as miraculous and to charge bad things to another account is apparently universal.