I was raised in a truly typical Midwestern home with a lot of repression. My life, and the creation of Playboy, were a response to that repression.

I’ve never thought of Playboy, quite frankly, as a sex magazine. I always thought of it as a lifestyle magazine in which sex was one important ingredient.

Several girlfriends are easier to handle than one wife.

After all the Puritans came to America to escape from persecution and then turned around and started persecuting other people. So I understand that conflict that we have related to play and pleasure and sexuality. And I think what has made my life worthwhile is trying to deal with some of those questions.

I'm never going to grow up. Staying young is what it is all about for me.

Smoking helped put me in touch with the realm of the senses.

My folks were farm people from Nebraska, so I like home cooking.