jokes are ideally pleasurable. They are an act of assassination without a corpse, a moment of total annihilation that paradoxically makes anything possible.

Prague is like a vertical Venice steps everywhere.

Rosalia is dressed in raven clothes forty years too old for her, so that she seems to be in mourning for her life.

People in a temper often say a lot of silly, terrible things they mean.

A satirist, often in danger himself, has the bravery of knowing that to withhold wit's conjecture is to endanger the species.

Funniness is the wild card in the pack.

The masters of the comic spirit are often our prophets.

[On John Cleese:] He sometimes seems to swat at his own thoughts as if they were bees.

Black and white are the most ravishing colors of all in film.

[On Watermelon Man:] ... it is impossible to look at this film without its giving you a share in its insane bad taste, which is rather companionable of it.

Great comedy calls large matters into question.

But I don't do the diet thing anymore. I'm a big believer in feeding your body what it needs. Deny yourself something and you're going to end up shoving your face full of it.

The Oscar nomination made me a recognizable name to other actors and people in general.

I'm interested in the movement of the eyes across the painting.

Your decisions reveal your priorities

It is working within limits that the craftsman reveals himself.

Hesitation will get you killed.

You are much more likely to have a holy experience in a quiet, focused, and communal context than you are when you are being entertained.

I think the best thing that could happen is that I'll live to be a lot older than my mother lived.

So study your rock history, son. That be the Bible of the Blues.

Awards are wonderful. I've been nominated many times and I've won many awards. But my journey is not towards that. If it happens it will be a blast. If it doesn't, it's still been a blast.