[ John] Winthrop was the man who first said America was "a city upon a hill," which [Ronald] Reagan then appropriated. There are incidents like that all through history. We have been here.

To some people, knowledge and science are everything. To me, God is everything I don't know.

I talked to [Larry] Kramer a little bit about it while I was writing 'Remembering Denny' . Denny was one of those people who took a long time to come out.

I'm not denying Christ by not being Christian. I'm a theist, which involves expanding on the Christ narrative.

I wasn't a [gay] activist, really.

I was not "shoe." That's a misuse of the term "shoe," which is derived from "white shoe."

Another example of what I have to put up with from him. But there was a time I was mad at all my straight friends when AIDS was at its worst. I particularly hated the New Yorker, where Calvin [Trillin] has published so much of his work. The New Yorker was the worst because they barely ever wrote about AIDS. I used to take out on Calvin my real hatred for the New Yorker.