Edmund White

Nothing lasts in New York. The life that is lived there, however, is as intense as it gets.

The culmination of a long struggle was 2013, which could clearly be labeled the Year of the Gay. State after state had legalized gay marriage, despite intense opposition from the religious right.

Paris can be like the land of the Lotus-Eaters. You can't leave.

I think penguins are cute.

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.

I'm a big action junkie. I grew up on the '80s action movies - the bad ones and the good ones.