Quotes from Willard Spiegelman

Everyone has what I call the phantom vita: prizes not won, jobs applied for but not offered, unrequited love. So what? If you miss a bus, you can get on the next one. We should not overly lament life's ordinary disappointments, but we must celebrate—soberly, not giddily or smugly—its ordinary pleasures.

A person who can get a good table at Chez Panisse at the last minute is a very important person indeed. Royalty begins with Alice Waters.