Any given generation gives the next generation advice that the given generation should have been given by the previous generation but now it's too late.

Think about scary movies: There's a fine line between horror and humor.

That's American English for you: more roots than a mangrove swamp.

It was easy to make fun of Bush, but it was sort of like shooting fish in a barrel and it didn't really feel all that good because it was so easy to do. I would much rather live under a thoughtful president. Even if it makes it harder to be funny about politics, it makes it more interesting to be funny about politics.

I think a writer is not an ideal husband... Writers tend to get off into their own heads and not notice the people that they're living with, or they get irritable with the people that they're living with when the people insist on being noticed.

Perhaps the truth is that heavy literature blooms in extremes of temperature.

Pete Rose is too rich a character to fit on a bronze plaque. He requires a good, trenchant, poignant (ah, Petey) book, and this is it.