It was a competitive examination [in Boston Latin School]. Poor kids, Brahmans, middle-class kids. The masters, as the teachers were called, didn't give a damn about - how we felt, what was - things like at home. I mean, this goes against the current grain. All they thought about was: `You're here. You made the exam. You can do the work. And if you can't, we'll throw you out.'

I've been reading since I could read, which was about four or five years old.

Margot [Hentoff] used to write regularly for The Voice, for The New York Review of Books, for Harper's Bazaar, and she really had the most distinctive writing style, even more than mine, than I've ever seen in this business.

[Bill Clinton] has called for expanded wiretaps for the FBI.

[Barack Obama's ] only principle is his own aggrandizement. This is a very dangerous mindset for a president to have.

[Bill Shawn] didn't edit the writers very strongly, but he knew what he wanted.

I say personally because I am 84 years old, and [Barack Obama's] is the first administration that has scared me in terms of my lifespan.