Olivier was another case of a genius, who couldn't understand why anybody would have any trouble doing this, because for him it came so easily.

When I went to school, my intention was to be a lawyer. When I attended university that was still the clear intention; I was going to be a lawyer. Why? Because it was as far as I could get from my father's antics and world. I thought that the world of the arts probably led people into the kind of behavior I had seen with him and that had resulted in a lot of hard times for my mother and me.

Landing the airplane I think is the most difficult thing that I've every learned to do in my life.

Geniuses always think it's easier than we make it out to be.

If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

The Pivot Questionnaire that I ask other people, when I have on rare occasion answered it, the answer to the question, "What turns you on?" Is words. Not mine, other people's. Words, words, words, that's what turns me on.

I must confess that when I'm alone in my study, here in New York, writing; that's when I'm happy.