[...] the inevitable triumph of illusion over reality that was the single most obvious truth about the history of the human race [...]

We are described into corners, and then we must describe ourselves out of corners.

My grandmother was very fierce and gruff. She was quite small, but she was very wide.

I don't feel American. I do feel like a New Yorker. I think there's a real distinction there. A city allows you to become a citizen even when you're not a national.

When you're writing for the screen, you have to be hyper-conscious every moment of how the audience is going to react. If you write just one scene where the audience is confused or it breaks their concentration in some way, then you've lost them, and you might never get them back.

It's Kennedy's war, Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson got all the flak, but it's Kennedy's war.

She's no flibberti-gibberti mamzell, but a whir-stir-get-lost-sir bundla dynamite!