as close to a genius as anyone I have ever met.

The word genius was whispered into my ear, the first thing I ever heard, while I was still mewling in my crib. So it never occurred to me that I wasn't until middle age.

Everybody denies I am a genius - but nobody ever called me one!

In common with all Protestant or Jewish cultures, America was developed on the idea that your word is your bond. Otherwise, the frontier could never have been opened, 'cause it was lawless. A man's word had to mean something.

If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.