We are cruel enough without meaning to be.

The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one's obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.

Those running tights the young women wear now, so they look like spacewomen, raspberry red and electric green so tight they show every muscle right into the crack between the buttocks, what is the point of them? Display. Young animals need to display.

The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.

Russia is the only country of the world you can be homesick for while you're still in it.

What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce. Mark Twain Women are an alien race set down among us.

A few places are especially conducive to inspiration - automobiles, church - public places. I plotted Couples almost entirely in church - little shivers and urgencies I would note down on the program, and carry down to the office Monday.