Don't trust a brilliant idea unless it survives the hangover.

If a man, for private profit, tears at the public news, does so with the impatience of one who thinks he actually owns the news you get, it is against the national interest.

Rage is ... This is Breslin's full quote: Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers

When you stop drinking, you have to deal with this marvelous personality that started you drinking in the first place.

The office of president is a bastardized thing, half royalty and half democracy that nobody knows whether to genuflect or spit.

Politics: where fat, bald, disagreeable men, unable to be candidates themselves, teach a president how to act on a public stage.

When you leave New York you ain't going anywhere.

That's the horrible thing starting out, you get distracted a lot because anything is easier than writing. It's just the same enemy - blank paper.

The test of a good idea is its ability to last through a hangover

True New Yorkers do not really seek information about the outside world. They feel that if anything is not in New York it is not likely to be interesting.

Media, the plural of mediocrity.

Entropy shakes its angry fist at you for being clever enough to organize the world. (p 2)

My sister travels with me, and she's the person who keeps me in line, whether I like it or not. I trust her and also have a good, healthy fear of her.

Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions.

I want a life that makes music - not just practices the piano.

You're born. You suffer. You die. Fortunately, there's a loophole.

Once the feet are put right, all the rest of him will follow.

Forget about what you are escaping from. Reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.

In order to stave off covetouness, greed, and spite, citizens world over must be educated.

The funny thing is that I feel close to all my characters. Deep, deep inside them all. I can't describe how deeply I love them all.

You are lucky in life if you have the right heroes. I advise all of you, to the extent you can, to pick out a few heroes