So my idea of neurotic is spending too much time trying to correct a wrong. When I feel that I'm doing that, then I snap out of it.

I met Richard Pryor for the first time in Calgary, in Canada. A very quiet, modest meeting.

I like writing books. I'd rather be at home with my wife. I can write, take a break, come out, have a glass of tea, give my wife a kiss, and go back in and write some more. It's not so bad. I am really lucky.

Time is a precious thing. Never waste it.

Zero Mostel wasn't afraid of authority in any form, and that's the part that influenced me the most.

My favorite author is Anton Chekhov, not so much for the plays but for his short stories, and I think he was really my tutor.

Gene Wilder often said that his job as an actor wasn't to make something funny but to make it real.