I am married to someone I love.

For me writing is foremost a mode of thinking and when it works well, an act of discovery

One serious drawback about letters is that, in order to get them, one must send some out. When it comes to the mail, I feel it is better to receive than to give.

High standards generally -- about workmanship and creation of objects, about what is owed in friendship, about the quality of art and much else -- far from being snobbish, are required to maintain decency in life.

My wife who is non-Jewish regrets it all the time that I can say these terrible things about fellow Jews and she can't.

In recompense, envy may be the subtlest - perhaps I should say the most insidious - of the seven deadly sins.

A writer can get into a vast deal of trouble through misquotation. If you ever want to receive lots of mail, I recommend you get a Shakespeare quote wrong in a magazine or newspaper.