There's an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. It's reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have.

Children should be taught to question everything . . . everything they read and everything they hear.

I became a guy who wanted to be a comedian someday, or a comic actor. The way I put it was, I'll be like Danny Kaye. He was kind of the model I had in mind.

The women who line up at a comic's dressing-room door are not what you'd call your class groupies.

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.

I think the trend to control speech - and therefore thought - continues. Because of the freer flow of information now, there's more on the side of free thought.

I simply decided that dope wasn't worth the ritual.