My books so far have argued that most human behavior, no matter how ghastly or ludicrous or glorious or whatever, is innocent. And here seems as good a place as any to include a statement made to me by Marsha Mason, the superb actress who once did me the honor of starring in a play of mine. She, too, is from the Middle West, from St. Louis.

"You know what the trouble is with New York?" she asked me.

"No," I said.

"Nobody here," she said, "believes that there is such a thing as innocence."

Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84 [NYT]