Mordecai Richler

“Living in Quebec is like living in a house where the two parents are getting a divorce.”

“As a writer, I'm not a prophet. I'm a witness.”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a large fortune is in need of a good tax accountant.”

“Life is a game in which the rules are constantly changing; nothing spoils a game more than those who take it seriously.”

“Canada is a country built against geography and common sense.”

“The world is not a rational place.”

“Like all failed writers, I am convinced that my unpublished work is my best.”

“In Canada, we have two official languages, and we're struggling with one of them.”

“Scratch a Canadian, and you find a disappointed American.”

“An intellectual is a man who has discovered something more interesting than sex.”

“Hockey is our winter ballet and, in many ways, our national theatre.”

“A writer's job is to tell the truth.”

“A born writer is a man who is not defeated by the fact that he is a bore.”

“Barney's Version is the story of my wasted life.”

“Satire is the greatest weapon we have against the tyrannies of the world.”

“The trouble with being a Montrealer is that you are forever explaining it to the rest of the world.”

“To be a Jew is to be a special kind of human being.”