“I have a thing about losers. Flaws in oneself open you up to others with flaws. Not that Dostoyevsky's characters don't generate phatos, but they're flawed in ways that don't come across as faults. And while I'm on the subject, Tolstoy's characters' faults are so epic and out of scale, they're as static as backdrops.”

“You have many flaws, he announced... “But there was one flaw that made all the other imperfections pale in comparison.”“Was?” she asked. “I don't have this flaw any longer?”“No, you don't.”“Pray tell,” she muttered in exasperation, “what was this terrible flaw?”He grinned. “You used to be English.”

“I never ask my wife about my flaws. Instead I try to get her to ignore them and concentrate on my sense of humor. You don't want any woman to look under the carpet, guys, because there's lots of flaws underneath. Joanne believes my character in a film we did together, 'Mr. and Mrs. Bridge' comes closest to who I really am. I personally don't think there's one character who comes close . . . but I learned a long time ago not to disagree on things that I don't have a solid opinion about.”

“I don't think -" I begin, but then I stop there. Strangely enough, this sounds like a full, declarative sentence, as if I'm standing in a bar shouting out one of my most obvious character flaws. I don't think!”

“While your character flaws may have created mild problems for other people, they will create major problems for your spouse and your marriage.”

“Yes, I have a romantic nature; it is a character flaw which should be viewed with pity, not derision.”