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.

Follow your own particular dreams. We are handed a life by peers, parents and society, you can do that or follow your own dreams. Life is short, be a dreamer but be a practical person.

It's good to be selfish. But not so self-centered that you never listen to other people.

You really don't create an authoritarian society unless you control the personal choices including the sexual choices of the people.

Life is bittersweet. Inside our heads, if we're lucky, we're the same kids as we were when we were young.

The interesting thing is how one guy, through living out his own fantasies, is living out the fantasies of so many other people.

Someone once asked, 'What's your best pickup line?' I said, 'My best pickup line is, 'Hi, my name is Hugh Hefner.''