It is death that goes down to the center of the earth, the great burial church the earth is, and then to the curved ends of the universe, as light is said to do. Harold Brodkey
I was always crazy about New York, dependent on it, scared of it - well, it is dangerous - but beyond that there was the pressure of being young and of not yet having done work you really liked, trademark work, breakthrough work. Harold Brodkey
I am in an adolescence in reverse, as mysterious as the first, except that this time I feel it as a decay of the odds that I might live for a while, that I can sleep it off. Harold Brodkey
In New York one lives in the moment rather more than Socrates advised, so that at a party or alone in your room it will always be difficult to guess at the long term worth of anything. Harold Brodkey
I have thousands of opinions still - but that is down from millions - and, as always, I know nothing. Harold Brodkey
Almost the first thing I did when I became ill was to buy a truly good television set. Harold Brodkey
Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me out of myself. Harold Brodkey
It is like visiting one's funeral, like visiting loss in its purest and most monumental form, this wild darkness, which is not only unknown but which one cannot enter as oneself. Harold Brodkey
If you like to read, sometimes it's interesting just to go and see what the reality is, of the word, of the seedy or not so seedy fiction writer, the drunk or sober poet... Sometimes you can go looking for illumination. Harold Brodkey
So an autobiography about death should include, in my case, an account of European Jewry and of Russian and Jewish events - pogroms and flights and murders and the revolution that drove my mother to come here. Harold Brodkey
I awake with a not entirely sickened knowledge that I am merely young again and in a funny way at peace, an observer who is aware of time's chariot, aware that some metamorphosis has occurred. Harold Brodkey
Me, my literary reputation is mostly abroad, but I am anchored here in New York. I can't think of any other place I'd rather die than here. Harold Brodkey
I am sensible of the velocity of the moments, and entering that part of my head alert to the motion of the world I am aware that life was never perfect, never absolute. This bestows contentment, even a fearlessness. Harold Brodkey
Show me a character whose life arouses my curiosity, and my flesh begins crawling with suspense. Fawn M. Brodie
A passion for politics stems usually from an insatiable need, either for power, or for friendship and adulation, or a combination of both. Fawn M. Brodie
Housework is a breeze. Cooking is a pleasant diversion. Putting up a retaining wall is a lark. But teaching is like climbing a mountain. Fawn M. Brodie
It's very important to understand that the 'Talk' piece was not an excerpt, it was an adaptation, which means I compressed different parts of the book and made a new piece. David Brock
There's every financial incentive in the world to stay in the conservative movement forever. David Brock