Boredom slays more of existence than war.

You don't know a woman until you've met her in court.

Hip is the sophistication of the wise primitive in a giant jungle.

Amateurs... venture into scenes that a writer with more experience (and more professional concern) would bypass or eschew altogether.

What characterizes a member of a minority group is that he is forced to see himself as both exceptional and insignificant, marvelous and awful, good and evil.

At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre.

There are two kinds of brave men: those who are brave by the grace of nature, and those who are brave by an act of will.