“Music, perhaps, comes nearest to reality . . . the mathematical relationships within the universe made audible. All the arts tend to that, but in music it seems to succeed . . . ”

On fan recognition: “My wife thinks I'm constantly walking around thinking I'm famous and that someone's recognized me when all they're looking at is my possible bad taste in clothing.”

It begins simply with nail scissors, clipping, the ends of a few hairs from the edge of his beard. Finally, after a week, he begins to notice that his beard isn’t growing.