Why am I attracted to all these lying quotes all of a sudden? Here’s another one. This one by Phillip Lopate: ‘(Children know it better than adults) that in telling a lie, fidelity is everything.’

Contradictory strands create an essay that's richly ambivalent.

The essay is a wonderful medium. I might mention that some writers who longed to be novelists were better as essayists: Sontag, Baldwin, Vidal, Mary McCarthy, Mailer.

For most of my life, I have wanted broad impact but now, at 72, I'm not so sure that's always my first priority.

I am apt to be harsh in my secret judgments of others, seeing them as defective because they are not enough like me.

The essay must be artistically rendered: You must keep the reader engaged, whether with wit, conflict, mischief, and/or yes, with honesty.

I'm fortunate in being able to find great satisfaction in my work.