Aphorisms may equivocate, but they must not wobble.

Pain narrows consciousness; pleasure blurs it.

When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows.

My passions have never jumped out of the fireplace and set fire to the carpet.

Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path.

Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.

The laughter of the aphorism is sometimes triumphant, but seldom carefree.

'Be faithful to your roots' is the liberal version of 'Stay in your ghetto.'

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.

Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.

So I heard the boom of my father's rifle when he shot my best friend. A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.

As dogs return to their vomit, some men return to their wives.

Love grows and wanes, but honor, duty, and commitment, those things are constant and stable. They define who you are.

You have to do the work in your marriage, but it has to be laid on a strong foundation of love.

To express the most difficult matters clearly and intelligently, is to strike coins out of pure gold.

...when you buy just two or three tons from a grower, they see the artisan work you do with their grapes, and then they want to give you their good fruit. By keeping small I can put my heart into it.

Hate is more interesting than love.

My wife and I really enjoy a glass of red wine. We're too old to drink cheap wine, and we don't.

I almost wish I'd had the forethought to eat a tree myself.

"What are you thinking?" he asked curiously. I looked up into his deep gold eyes, became befuddled, and, as usual, blurted out the truth. "I'm trying to figure out what you are."