I used to be fond of Indian arm wrestling.

Saul Bellow never took my advice when he was my friend.

I long for the raised voice, the howl of rage or love.

Jane Austen is at the end of the line that begins with Samuel Richardson, which takes wonder and magic out of the novel, treats not the past but the present.

I liked Camille Paglia. I liked her even better when I heard her talk.

Cooper wrote a novel which is absolutely indistinguishable from Austen, completely from a female point of view, completely English, no sense that he was an American.

Foucault was the one person I met in France that I could talk to. He was a mensch. You know whether you agree with him or not because you know what he is saying.