Doctor, I had never had anybody like her in my life, she was the fulfillment of my most lascivious adolescent dreams– but marry her, can she be serious? You see, for all her preening and perfumes, she has a very low opinion of herself, and simultaneously– and here is the source of much of our trouble-a ridiculously high opinion of me. And simultaneously, a very low opinion of me! She is one confused Monkey, and, I'm afraid, not too very bright.
Philip RothFor a pure sense of being tumultuously alive, you can't beat the nasty side of existence.
Philip RothActually we did not have the feelings we said we had until we spoke them--at least I didn't; to phrase them was to invent them and own them.
Philip RothI think I write or publish as much as I do because I can bear being without a book to work on.
Philip Roth