[Calvin Trillin] was very "shoe," which means he was a big jock, a big deal.

I don't like the vulgarity of Oscars weekend, but it's also sweet. It's prom weekend for anyone who didn't experience the real prom: the nerds, gay, arty outsiders. Hollywood is high school with money.

I believe we really became friends [with Larry Kramer] when we bonded at our fifteenth class reunion in 1972.

The first time I remember our being socially in the same place was after we graduated and [author, investment counselor, philanthropist, and fellow 1950s Yalie] Peter Wolf had a party at his house in the Hamptons.

There was a lot really awful about that time [in fifties] if you were gay.

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

Sometimes if I am walking down the street and thinking about my panoply of God, Ganesha, Parvati [Ganesha's mother], I say "Lucifer," because he belongs in that panoply. I miss him. That's why I'm a theist.