I'm rather a practical person. I just get on and focus on what I have to do. I just don't get sleepless or suffer from the jitters.

Vulgar of manner, overfed. Overdressed and underbred; heartless, godless, hell's delight, rude by day and lewd by night; bedwarfed the man, o'ergrown the brute, ruled by boss and prostitute; purple-robed and pauper-clad, raving, rotting, money-mad; a squirming herd in mammon's mesh, a wilderness of human flesh; crazed with avarice, lust and rum, new york, thy name's delirium.

Oftentimes I deliberately put ambiguity into my books so that... The reader is left with an echo of 'How much of this was from me?'

Please know that being 80 is not a scary thing. When you're 80, your life is much freer.