We continually want to unmask our heroes as if there were more to be learned from their nakedness than from their choice of clothing.

The average parent may, for example, plant an artist or fertilize a ballet dancer and end up with a certified public accountant. We cannot train children along chicken wire to make them grow in the right direction. Tying them to stakes is frowned upon, even in Massachusetts.

The things we hate about ourselves aren't more real than things we like about ourselves.

Saving time, it seems, has a primacy that's too rarely examined.

[E]very time you think the entertainment moguls have hit rock bottom, they reach for the jackhammer and rat-a-tat-tat a little deeper.

My father used to say that if a man fools you once, he's a jerk. If he fools you twice, you're a jerk. Only he didn't use the word "jerk."

You can fire your secretary, divorce your spouse, abandon your children. But they remain your co-authors forever.