Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
New York's not exactly antiseptic. It could be clean and less dangerous, and not horrible, not under a tidal wave of tourists.
Marriage entitles women to the protection of a strong man who will steady the stepladder while they paint the kitchen ceiling.
To put it rather bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.
Now the culture is made of old things, it's a collage. Art made out of art is not art. You're supposed to make art out of life.
One [New York] eatery is a remodeled diner that looks like what Busby Berkeley would have done if only he hadn't had the money.
Radio news is bearable. This is due to the fact that while the news is being broadcast, the disk jockey is not allowed to talk.
Television turned out to be exactly as bad as the most irritating and pedantic intellectuals of the '50s said it was going to be.
Rome is a very loony city in every respect. One needs but spend an hour or two there to realize that Fellini makes documentaries.
No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.
Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs.
Inhabitants of underdeveloped nations and victims of natural disasters are the only people who have ever been happy to see soybeans.
Instead of writing it wrong six times and then writing it right, I think it wrong six times and then write it right the seventh time.
A hobby is, of course, an abomination, as are all consuming interests and passions that do not lead directly to large, personal gain.
The best fame is a writer's fame. It's enough to get a table at a good restaurant, but not enough to get you interrupted when you eat.
The thing you love right away, don't do it, because that's the very thing that's going to be your addiction for the rest of your life.
What starts love is your ability to stupefy and blind yourself to the point of being able to fall in love. What stops it is waking up.
In Rome people spend most of their time having lunch. And they do it very well - Rome is unquestionably the lunch capital of the world.
You sit or stand in the subway, and you look around - I do, because I don't have a phone so I'm not playing a game - and you see people.
Writing is so hard. Why would you be a writer if you weren't really good at it? If you could be anything else, why would you be a writer?
Being a woman is of special interest only to aspiring male transsexuals. To actual women, it is simply a good excuse not to play football.
There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness or death. Any attempt to prove otherwise constitutes unacceptable behavior.
There are certain relationships I think I'm great at: I'm the world's greatest daughter. I'm a great relative. I believe I'm a great friend.
Why not have your first baby at sixty, when your husband is already dead and your career is over? Then you can really devote yourself to it.
If there had been a job of being a reader, I would have taken that, because I love to read and I don't love to write. That would be blissful.
There is one thing that has disappeared, not just from the U.S. but from the entire world, is the idea of ever being embarrassed by anything.
There are two modes of transport in Los Angeles: car and ambulance. Visitors who wish to remain inconspicuous are advised to choose the latter
You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.
China is not a great idea: capitalism and a dictator. It's like the two worst possible things you could imagine together. It's a very bad idea.
there are two kinds of music - good music and bad music. Good music is music that I want to hear. Bad music is music that I don't want to hear.
When someone asks, 'Why do you think he's not calling me?' there's always one answer - 'He's not interested.' There's not ever any other answer.
Do not, on a rainy day, ask your child what he feels like doing, because I assure you that what he feels like doing, you won't feel like watching.
In New York we have zillions of different kinds of people, many of them hate each other, but violence based on that hatred is really uncommon here.
Do not have your child's hair cut by a real hairdresser in a real hairdressing salon. He is, at this point, far too short to be exposed to contempt.
I walk a lot in New York, not for the exercise but to get from place to place, and because it's the way of having the least contact with human beings.
All the time I'm not writing I feel like a criminal. It's horrible to feel felonious every second of the day. It's much more relaxing to actually write.
When people say, 'Doesn't Gloria [Vanderbilt] look great? She's 85.' I say, 'Yes, she was a raving beauty when she was 20,' that's the key. Very helpful.
Special-interest publications should realize that if they are attracting enough advertising and readers to make a profit, the interest is not so special.
modern science was largely conceived of as an answer to the servant problem and ... it is generally practiced by those who lack a flair for conversation.
If you are of the opinion that the contemplation of suicide is sufficient evidence of a poetic nature, do not forget that actions speak louder than words.
I think one manifestation of integrity is holding a grudge. Saying no is a little different. Holding a grudge is the modern equivalent of having standards.
People who are well-known, famous people, I think, make very poor characters for fiction. They make good characters for gossip columns. But not for fiction.
I think writing for me has always been a matter of fear. Writing is fear and not writing is fear. I am afraid of writing and then I'm afraid of not writing.
Albert Einstein didn't care where he lived. Albert Einstein was a genius. Albert Einstein wasn't getting lost in the master bedroom, he was lost in thought.
I have the exact opposite problem of every writer I've ever met: Every writer I've ever met writes things that are too long, and they have to edit them down.
I am a New Yorker. I like New York. And I like cities. And it's not my desire to make New York more suburban. I would personally just like to vet each person.
I'm not a nervous person. I'm not afraid to be on TV. I'm only afraid when I write. When I'm at my desk I feel like most people would feel if they went on TV.
Luckily when you drive a cab there are two things: You don't have a boss in the cab with you, and you are not facing the people that you are making money from.
It's much easier to write a solemn book than a funny book. It's harder to make people laugh than it is to make them cry. People are always on the verge of tears.
No one's supposed to be the president. This is not England. And it's not just the Bush family, all families designate each child as having some particular trait.
I woke up at five o'clock in the morning with the whole first paragraph in my head. Now, this just shows what a slothful person I am: I tried to go back to sleep.