A movie star is not an artist, he is an art object.

- Richard Schickel

A great novel is concerned primarily with the interior lives of its characters, as they respond to the inconvenient narratives that fate imposes on t…

- Richard Schickel

That common cold of the male psyche, fear of commitment.

- Richard Schickel

The current moguls understand that true media power lies not in firing up our outrage, as Hearst did, but in befuddling it or tranquilizing it with n…

- Richard Schickel

Divorced, not loving their abandoned children as much as they loathe their former wives, directing a combination of need and hostility toward the wom…

- Richard Schickel

Any dramatic series the producers want us to take seriously as a representationof contemporary reality cannot be taken seriously as a representation …

- Richard Schickel

Luck always favors the comely.

- Richard Schickel

The law of unintended consequences pushes us ceaselessly through the years, permitting no pause for perspective.

- Richard Schickel

There is a limbo of the lost through which American males of a certain age and status almost inevitably must pass these days.

- Richard Schickel