Art – the one achievement of man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised

I loathe the expression “What makes him tick.” It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solutions, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.

I have the reputation for having read all of Henry James. Which would argue a misspent youth and middle age.

I write humor the way a surgeon operates, because it is a livelihood, because I have a great urge to do it, because many interesting challenges are set up, and because I have the hope it may do some good.

With sixty staring me in the face, I have developed inflammation of the sentence structure and definite hardening of the paragraphs.

If I have sometimes seemed to make fun of Woman, I assure you it has only been for the purpose of egging her on.

A lady of 47 who has been married 27 years and has six children knows what love really is and once described it for me like this: 'Love is what you've been through with somebody'.