A democracy depends upon people getting brighter all the time. Democracies are delicate. They're not just ipso facto and just go on and on.

Love is simple to understand if you haven't got a mind soft and full of holes. It's a crutch, that's all, and there isn't any one of us that doesn't need a crutch.

I become an actor, a quick-change artist, as if I can trap the Prince of Truth in the act of switching a style.

Simple narcissism gives the power of beasts to politicians, professional wrestlers and female movie stars.

Everything wrong with America led to the point where the country built that tower of Babel, which consequently had to be destroyed. And then came the next shock. We had to realize that the people that did this were brilliant. It showed that the ego we could hold up until September 10 was inadequate.

Chicago was a town where nobody could forget how the money was made. It was picked up from floors still slippery with blood.

You're gambling with something vital. Most writers get smashed egos.