You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.

I had no accomplishments except surviving. But that isn't enough in the community where I came from, because everybody was doing it. So I wasn't prepared for America, where everybody is glowing with good teeth and good clothes and food.

Shakespeare is like mashed potatoes, you can never get enough of him.

You feel a sense of urgency, especially at my advanced age, when you're staring into the grave.

I say, Billy, what’s the use in playing croquet when you’re doomed? He says, Frankie, what’s the use of not playing croquet when you’re doomed?

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

I just have to proceed as usual. No matter what happens, nothing helps with the writing of the next book.