Everybody who flashed the signs of loyalty he took to be loyal. Everybody who flashed the signs of intelligence he took to be intelligent. And so he had failed to see into his daughter, failed to see into his wife, failed to see into his one and only mistress—probably had never even begun to see into himself

A Jewish man with his parents alive is half the time a helpless infant!

For a pure sense of being tumultuously alive, you can't beat the nasty side of existence.

The hard part is, of course, the proximity of death. The number has no meaning as long as you're fit and healthy. But you know that you only have so much time left and you don't know how much it is. It could be a very short time.

He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense.

I came to New York and in only hours, New York did what it does to people: awakened the possibilities. Hope breaks out.

Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts.