Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.

You do things and do things and nobody really has a clue.

Sex is like money; only too much is enough.

Everybody who tells you how to act has whiskey on their breath.

The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education.

Movies took you right up to the edge but kept you safe.

If you look at the best-seller list, it is mostly thrillers. Very few books attempt to create an image of the life we live. I knew there were writers who wore tweed coats and lived in Connecticut and somehow made a living, and that's what I aimed to do. I've tried to write as well as I can with books that say something to any reader.