Funniness is the wild card in the pack.

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.

The masters of the comic spirit are often our prophets.

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

[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.

The truth is, I often like women. I like their unconventionality. I like their completeness. I like their anonymity.

I don't really relax. When I sleep, I relax.

An author arrives at a good style when his language performs what is required of it without shyness.

I'm so excited for my son. On Christmas morning I want to see his face, to be there when he opens the gifts. I want the see what my assistants got him for Christmas.

I have another Russian idea, too, with a place and a period, so I guess I have enough to keep me busy for quite some time, especially considering that I'm such a slow writer.

When a leader takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, he not only sets a good example, he shows a healthy respect for people on his team

I wish to be put away in a western dress I designed, with my daughter's little gold cross necklace and my son's small white testament in my hands, and my wedding band on.

Some missionaries bound for Africa were laughed at by the boat captain. 'You'll only die over there,' he said. But a missionary replied, 'Captain, we died before we started.'

Sometimes we need to tell ourselves that we're not going to do certain things, just in order to stay sane.