There are certain romances that belong in certain cities, in a certain atmosphere, in a certain time.

The success of the Rat Pack or the Clan was due to the camaraderie, the three guys who work together and kid each other and love each other.

You always have two choices: your commitment versus your fear.

I bought a house in the Hollywood Hills and brought my grandmother from Harlem to live in it with me.

What have I got? No looks, no money, no education. Just talent.

You have to be able to look back at your life and say, "Yeah, that was fun."

If you want to be the best, baby, you've got to work harder than anybody else.

My mother was born in San Juan. So I'm Puerto Rican, Jewish, colored and married to a white woman. When I move into a neighborhood, people start running four ways at the same time.

I saw that my image was changing or fading. One of the reasons for taking a break from clubs was to be missed-not forgotten.

Wishing, hoping and regretting are the most common and dangerous tactics for evading the present.

May was young and beautiful, we were legally married, but she was caught in the prison of my skin.

Whatever you have in mind do, for the Lord is with you.

You are prettier than you can imagine.

Silence is what allows people to suffer without recourse, what allows hypocrisies and lies to grow and flourish, crimes to go unpunished.

Today every invention is received with a cry of triumph which soon turns into a cry of fear.

I wrote the song For A Dancer for a friend of mine who died in a fire. He was in the sauna in a house that burned down, so he had no idea anything was going on. It was very sad.

I have two dogs myself and they are always around when I write, so they tend to creep in there.

All music is good music, if it touches your soul.

By measuring individual human worth, the novelist reveals the full enormity of the State

You're getting angry, you know I can see. You're just jealous, cause you can't be me.

It should be a crime to abandon your child, and it's not. It would be wonderful if it could be criminalized.