I remember how often some of us walked out of the darkness of the Lower East Side and into the brilliant sunlight of Washington Square.

The library, I believe, is the last of our public institutions to which you can go without credentials. You don't even need the sticker on your windshield that you need to get into the public beach. All you need is the willingness to read.

Books do not make life easier or more simple, but harder and more interesting.

I remember how often some of us walked out of the darkness of the Lower East Side and into the brilliant sunlight of Washington Square.

A tablecloth restaurant is still one of the great rewards of civilization.

The conservatives nearly always tolerate the demagogue while he is destroying liberals.

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.