And the Blue Angels are coming back to scare the local population. I remember seeing old Vietnamese women ducking under the benches in Washington Square; they thought they were back in the war.

Well, I didn't know how to draw very well back then, in the '40s and '50s.

Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.

The real literary editors have mostly been fired. Those that remain are all 'bottom line' editors; everything depends on the money.

Before I had my son, I became obsessed by this painting I'd seen in an art gallery. It was a lot of money, but I felt such a rush of adrenaline when I wrote the cheque to buy it. I thought I was going to gaze lovingly at it forever, but after just two weeks, I realised I didn't really like it any more.

Forced to confront a reptile or an international financial crisis, I'll take the reptile every time.

If you don't have a functioning financial system the world economy won't be revived. All the major economies have their responsibility to assist at a pace which is required to clean up the balance sheet of the banking system and to ensure that credit flows are resumed.

You need to have a lot of human judgment involved in the financial industry in terms of risk management, in terms of investment decisions, and things that really allow us to blend the best of technology and the human brain.