In California virtually everyone has had their teeth whitened. If they all smiled at once, they would give us a headache.

When the country goes temporarily to the dogs, cats must learn to be circumspect, walk on fences, sleep in trees, and have faith that all this woofing is not the last word.

... life itself is brief, and that is what charges the day with such ridiculous beauty.

I'm of an age when if I started to do eulogies, I'd be doing nothing else. You don't want to be remembered? I don't want them to be told to remember me.

Humor is not a trick, not jokes. Humor is a presence in the world - like grace - and shines on everybody.

I don't associate work with feelings of satisfaction. Rather, guilt, frustration, and resentment of people who write better than I do.

I talk in subjects and verbs, and sort of wind around in concentric circles until I get far enough away from the beginning so that I can call it the end, and it ends.