A trait which differentiated New York from European cities was the incredible freedom and ease in which life, including sexual life, could be carried on, on many levels.

There are many types of participation. One can observe so intensely that one becomes part of the action, but without being an active participant.

And really the purpose of art - for me, fiction - is to alert, to indicate to stop, to say: Make certain that when you rush through you will not miss the moment which you might have had, or might still have.

It is not sex by itself that interests me, but its particular role in American consciousness, and in my own life.

The principle of art is to pause, not bypass.

I don't fret over lost time - I can always use the situations in a novel.

All my father saw was what he wanted to see.