Men often compete with one another until the day they die. Comradeship consists of rubbing shoulders jocularly with a competitor.

If human nature eventually is going to take the place of nature everywhere, those of us who have been naturalists will have to transpose the faith in nature which is inherent in the profession to a faith in man-if necessary, man alone in the world.

A writer's work is to witness things.

Sophistication" is another word for that inventive mix of tolerance, resilience, and resourcefulness city people develop.

We New Yorkers see more death and violence than most soldiers do, grow a thick chitin on our backs, grimace like a rat and learn to do a disappearing act. Long ago we outgrew the need to be blowhards about our masculinity; we leave that to the Alaskans and Texans, who have more time for it.

There were periods during my childhood when I stammered so badly I couldn't talk at all.

To relive the relationship between owner and slave we can consider how we treat our cars and dogs - a dog exercising a somewhat similar leverage on our mercies and an automobile being comparable in value to a slave in those days