This is the sixth book I've written, which isn't bad for a guy who's only read two.

When asked in his late 90s if his doctor knew he still smoked, Burns said, 'No ... he's dead.'

At home we ate fish every Friday, as Catholics were then supposed to do. Being Jewish, I compromised. I wore a hat when I ate fish, out of respect for my own religion and the fish's family.

I don't care what you do for a living. If you love it, you are a success.

Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.

None of us kids had a middle name. We were lucky we had any name at all. By the time my mother got around to naming one, there was another on the way.

It's hard for me to get used to these changing times. I can remember when the air was clean and sex was dirty.