I've had an enduring appreciation of psychology.

Hedonism can be a rational response to a difficult life.

I like the freedom that comes with lowered expectations.

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

Have fun writing, because it enhances both the writer's and reader's experience.

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.

The knowledge that my discriminations are skewed and not always universally desirable doesn't stop me in the least from making them.