Truth is no rounder than a horse's eye.

I suppose I could read more fiction, but I haven't moved in that direction. I'd like more time even though I spend six hours a day reading. People say their eyes get tired, but I've never experienced that. In college I used to read 10 hours a day. My wife says I'm obsessive compulsive. She might have a point because when I was an undergrad student we had the required reading list and the suggested reading list. I always read all the suggested reading too.

In daily life language is important, if not in itself, then as a symptom.

...this marvelous graceful thing, this joy of physics, this perfect balance between rebellion and obedience, is God's own signature on earth.

Of course, you would have to be insane to hope your child grows up to be a playwright or poet. Given the odds, you would have to be quite cavalier about your children's future.

Writing is still my main career, but I would love, for instance, to serve in the New York State Assembly.

To be mad is to feel with excruciating intensity the sadness and joy of a time which has not arrived or has already been.