Consider the "new" woman. She's trying to be Pollyanna Borgia, clearly a conflict of interest. She's supposed to be a ruthless winner at work and a bundle of nurturing sweetness at home.

Not until my middle thirties did I consider myself a novelist.

Language is decanted and shared. If only one person is left alive speaking a language - the case with some American Indian languages - the language is dead. Language takes two and their multiples.

We all want to leave our children the Garden of Eden and we wind up giving them hardscrabble.

Guilt is a Jewish invention improved upon by Christians for the last two thousand years.

Sport strips away personality, letting the white bone of character shine through. Sport gives players an opportunity to know and test themselves.

Leroy bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough.