Edmund White

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

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

I always feel I'm better known in England than I am here in the U.S. Americans don't read that much, and the French are very good at knowing the names of everybody.

To make money I picked up work as a busboy, valet parker, skateboard shop employee.

I think penguins are cute.

By pouring money and goods into devastated regions, foreign aid workers sometimes compound the disruption and debauch the survivors.