Well, I had a small degree, that little infection of skepticism about America which resides in the minds of even America's closest friends. That America can't be quite as good as it says it is. And why does it need so relentlessly to keep saying how good it is?

And I'm in favor of that because I have a gay son, who's a very successful theater designer.

Television has created a nation of news junkies who tune in every night to get their fix on the world.

You learn, just as you learn good manners, how to approach things with a certain amount of diplomacy.

Words make another place, a place to escape to with your spirit alone.

I grew up in kind of the last generation of Canadians who thought things that were happening in Britain were more important, almost, than what was happening in Canada. And my mother was fervently of that opinion.

I am not really retired, and may never be completely, but I can't think of a better place to contemplate retirement than New York City.