All three of my parents - I also had a stepmother - were teachers, and my dad taught high school, and as he always reminded me when I was going to spend some money on something, 'Your mother and I, in the Depression, had to decide whether to spend a dime on a loaf of bread or if we could go to a movie with it.'

I am always shocked that there are still a handful of defenders of the dubious practice of abstinence, surely the worst idea since chocolate-covered ants.

A biggest mistake I made when I started doing a talk show was I thought you had to read the books.

History is not reassuring on the subject of the longevity of seemingly lasting great nations, is it?

I find most 'sacred music' pretty dismal.

I live a sensible life. You know, I don't take on too much.

I'm not freakishly short. I had, on my show, used shortness as a joke subject; it didn't really bother me.