Once I lived in time as a fish in water, breathing it, drinking it, sustained by it. Now I kill time and time kills me.

(I)f we are going to be kind, let it be out of simple generosity, not because we fear guilt or retribution.

The writers who have the deepest influence on one are those one reads in ones more impressionable, early life, and often it is the more youthful works of those writers that leave the deepest imprint.

When all else fails, philosophize.

We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable.

I know somewhat too much; and from this knowledge, once one has been infected, there seems to be no recovering.

All creatures come into the world bringing with them the memory of justice.

But he cannot see a connection between the end of yearning and the end of poetry. Is that what growing up amounts to: growing out of yearning, of passion, of all intensities of the soul?

I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted.

A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us.

Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?

U r looking at me in a particular way- & I am not that. I am something else. What am I- I don't know.

It would cut into him at unpredictable moments, like a gutting knife made of colored light.

The trouble with eating Italian is that 5 or 6 days later, you're hungry again.

Laughter is a tranquilizer without after-effects.

I am an atheist... I don't understand religion at all. I'm sure I'll offend a lot of people by saying this, but I think it's all nonsense.

There's nothing that anyone could say about me that would hurt my feelings.

Two is not a winner, and three nobody remembers. What does it take to be number one?

Those wishing to be successful in the market can't ignore the boomer numbers, the wealth and spending power they have.

It's possible I am the only art critic that a lot of people read. And maybe Robert Hughes, if he's still writing.

Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks.