Quote of the Day (Peter De Vries, on Changing Standards for Immorality)

“The standards for immorality are getting progressively steeper, for life and art both. A hundred years ago Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was given a A for adultery. Today she would rate no better than a C-plus.”—American editor and novelist Peter De Vries (1911-1993), Reuben, Reuben (1964)

Quote of the Day (Peter De Vries, on Christmas With Family)

“Now once again the aunts are here,

The uncles, sisters, brothers,

With candy in the children’s hair,

The grownups in each other’s.”—Peter De Vries, from “Christmas Family Reunion,” in Christmas at The New Yorker: Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art (2003)