The rational man may talk a good game about suicide, but reason must give way to obsession and finally squalor before he can actually do it. - Wilfrid Sheed

His interviewing self is, or was, an extra person, like the Holy Ghost, generated by self-contemplation.

The odds on any intelligent person having an unhappy childhood are better than fair, and the odds on a sad ending are practically off the board.

When a reviewer says that Malamud is second only to Bellow, it means he really isn't thinking about either of them. When he's reading Malamud he's thinking about Bellow, and when he's reading Bellow he's thinking about Roth. This is the essence of the ratings game: distraction. Children play it all the time. "Is this the biggest bridge in the world?" "No, it's the third biggest." "Oh." They lose all interest in the bridge.