The cruelest thing anyone can do to Portnoy's Complaint is to read it twice.

I believe in grumbling it is the politest form of fighting known.

Everyone wants to go home but we can't because of the expiration, ... Everyone is reading the paper. The biggest complaint on the floor is about food because all the delis are closed.

Modernity consists in a revolt against the prevailing style, an unyielding rage against the official order.

Imagination is not something apart and hermetic, not a way of leaving reality behind; it is a way of engaging reality.

The knowledge that makes us cherish innocence makes innocence unattainable.