Never put the story in the lead. Let ’em have a hot shot of ambiguity right between the eyes.

The wonderful thing about being a New York Times columnist is that it’s like a Supreme Court appointment – they’re stuck with you for a long time.

To be accused of ‘channeling’ is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist’s live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one’s own.

The tension between the governed and the governing is what makes the world go ’round. It’s not love, it’s that tension, because that tension exists in love affairs. The whole idea of control is at the heart of human relationships. Control and resistance to control.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, when he was British Foreign Secretary, said he received the following telegram from an irate citizen: “To hell with you. Offensive letter follows.”

Chandler’s “She was blonde enough to make a bishop kick a hole through a stained-glass window.

Sometimes I know the meaning of a word but am tired of it and feel the need for an unfamiliar, especially precise or poetic term, perhaps one with a nuance that flatters my readership’s exquisite sensitivity.

One challenge to the arts in America is the need to make the arts, especially the classic masterpieces, accessible and relevant to today’s audience.

Gridlock is great. My motto is, ‘Don’t just do something. Stand there.’

Do not be taken in by ‘insiderisms.’ Fledgling columnists, eager to impress readers with their grasp of journalistic jargon, are drawn to such arcane spellings as ‘lede.’ Where they lede, do not follow.