Without vanity a writer's work is tepid, and he must accept his vanity as part of his stock in trade and live with it as one of the hazards of his profession.

All the mistakes I ever made were when I wanted to say 'No' and said 'Yes'.

The self-hatred that destroys is the waste of unfulfilled promise.

The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream. For those who did, it unlocked its gates and its treasures, not caring who they were or where they came from.

I have had many successes and many failures in my life. My successes have always been for different reasons, but my failures have always been for the same reason: I said yes when I meant no.

You'd be surprised how many kings are only a queen with a moustache.

There's nothing the matter with Hollywood that a good earthquake couldn't cure.

One of the grave dangers inherent in the various stages of any theatrical career-whether it be budding, quiescent or diminishing-is the advice of friends.

Poor people know poor people, and rich people know rich people. It is one of the few things La Rochefoucauld did not say, but then La Rochefoucauld never lived in the Bronx.

Far more quickly than reason and logic, irony can penetrate rage and puncture self-pity.

Playwriting, like begging in India, is an honorable but humbling profession.

Accept the universeAs the gods gave it to you.If the gods wanted to give you something elseThey’d have done it.If there are other matters and other worldsThere are.

In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music, meant to be listened to in a small space by a small audience.

Creation's highest aim and most sublime result is belief in God. The most exalted rank of humanity is knowledge of God.

I knew by heart all the dialogue of James Dean's films; I could watch Rebel Without a Cause a hundred times over.

Ennui is the echo in us of time tearing itself apart.

I'm a professional food eater.

Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves.

Psychological breakdowns are actually breakthroughs to enlightenment.

My friend Sally is a nudist. I went to her house. The closets have no doors. The walls are covered with see-through wallpaper.

The most beautiful thing in the world is, precisely, the conjunction of learning and inspiration. Oh, the passion for research and the joy of discovery!