He couldn't tell the difference between one politician and another. They were all formlessly enthusiastic chimpanzees to him.

Moderate giftedness has been made worthless by the printing press and radio and television and satellites and all that. A moderately gifted person who would have been a community treasure a thousand years ago has to give up, has to go into some other line of work, since modern communications put him or her into daily competition with nothing but world's champions.

It is a very mixed blessing to be brought back from the dead.

What the Gospels actually said was: don't kill anyone until you are absolutely sure they aren't well connected.

Well, it's practically over, thank God - I'm 83, there won't be that much more of it to put up with I don't think!

Just because we think we're so wonderful doesn't mean we really are. We could be really terrible animals and just never admit it because it would hurt so much.

My soul seemed as foul as smoke from burning cat fur.