Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge fitter to bruise than polish.

Somebody called me a 'bruised romantic' once and I like that.

I'll never forget one morning I walked in and I had a hell of a bruise - it had been a difficult night the night before - and a client said to me 'Good God Vidal what happened to your face?' And I said 'Oh nothing madam I just fell over a hairpin.'

There is certain relief in change even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.

The TV business is like the produce section of the market. Today everything is fresh and glistening and firm. And tomorrow when they find a bruise on you they toss you out.