so my grandmother was not without humanity. and if she wore cocktail dresses when she labored in the garden, they were cocktail dresses she no longer intended to wear to cocktail parties. even in her rose garden she did not want to appear underdressed. if the dresses got too dirty from gardening, she threw them out. when my mother suggested to her that she might have them cleaned, my grandmother said, "what? and have those people at the cleaners what i was doing in a dress to make it that dirty?" from my grandmother i learned that logic is relative.

If I had to be anything," he told her, "I'd probably be a socialist, but I don't want to be anything.

If you feel strongly about people having abortions, don't have one. But we are a country - USA - that likes to be punitive. We want to restrict. It is a kind of religious fervor run amuck.

You can learn a lot from your lovers, but-for the most part-you get to keep your friends longer, and you learn more from them.

When people say that German or any other language is romantic... all they really mean is that they've enjoyed a past in the language

You cannot drive with your eyes in the rear-view mirror… But dignity is difficult to maintain. Stamina requires constant upkeep. Repetition is boring. And you pay for grace.

So, I don't work in terms of real time. I don't work in a timely fashion.