I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.

My definition of likeable may be different from other people's. That's not traditional likeable. Sympathy is a different thing [to define it].

Maybe it's because I have too much pride or self-respect, but I thought, `Why does a guy who has thinning hair and who is overweight have to be a loser or a joke?'

Come on, man.... Hemingway, Sexton, Plath, Woolf. You can't kill yourself before you're even published.

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

You are absolutely free to describe me as a turtle or something.

I married a Jewish lady, and we're raising our son Jewish, and since I'm not Jewish the whole thing is just a mystery to me. I leave it to her, actually, because it's just a great mystery.