The limits of prudence: one cannot jump out of a burning building gradually.

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.

THE EASIEST AND MORE PLEASANT PATH TO SUCCESS IS BY ADDING VALUE TO OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES

I try to be funny and not ignorant.

I do not want a friend who smiles when I smile, who weeps when I weep; for my shadow in the pool can do better than that.

The value of holding a grudge. And to always refer to my father sarcastically as Mr. Wonderful.

The key to the Grail is compassion, 'suffering with,' feeling another's sorrow as if it were your own. The one who finds the dynamo of compassion is the one who's found the Grail.

A person's worth is quite independent of their usefulness to society.

As fathers commonly go, it is seldom a misfortune to be fatherless; and considering the general run of sons, as seldom a misfortune to be childless.

Working on 'The Last Waltz' introduced me to Martin Scorsese, and I had been a movie bug since I was a young kid.

Time is the central mystery of our existence. It confines and defines us in many ways.

Only the wasteful virtues earn the sun.