There were positive things about the church, that is, in the European cultural sense, the architecture, the liturgy, the music, the art, such as it was, the stations of the cross in the church, the tradition, and the atmosphere of awe and mystery in the mass. The atmosphere of miracle, one of mainly mystery, that's what fascinates me.

I'm more interested in writing than in performing.

The English wouldn't give you the steam of their piss.

There's so much absurdity. Poverty is so absurd.

The happy childhood is hardly worth your while.

Actually, my mother and Alfie came for three weeks Christmas vacation and stayed for 21 years. I guess my mother never went back because she was lonely.

My childhood here... was very limited. So it was a long, long time before I actually went out to Brooklyn.