A Cat Is The Only Domestic Animal

High Standards Generally -- About Workmanship And Creation Of Objects, About What Is Owed In Friendship, About The Quality Of Art And Much Else -- Far From Being Snobbish, Are Required To Maintain Decency In Life.

I Myself Think Anti-semitism Is About Envy.

What, Really, Is Wanted From A Neighborhood? Convenience, Certainly, An Absence Of Major Aggravation, To Be Sure. But Perhaps Mostof All, Ideally, What Is Wanted Is A Comfortable Background, A Breathing Space Of Intermission Between The Intensities Of Private Life And The Calculations Of Public Life.

I Have Myself Always Been Terrified Of Plagiarism - Of Being Accused Of It, That Is. Every Writer Is A Thief, Though Some Of Us Are More Clever Than Others At Disguising Our Robberies. The Reason Writers Are Such Slow Readers Is That We Are Ceaselessly Searching For Things We Can Steal And Then Pass Off As Our Own: A Natty Bit Of Syntax, A Seamless Transition, A Metaphor That Jumps To Its Target Like An Arrow Shot From An Aluminum Crossbow.

What Distinguishes Us One From Another Is Our Dreams, And What We Do To Make Them Come About.