Frances Ann "Fran" Lebowitz (born October 27, 1950) is an American author.

Born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey, Lebowitz is best known for her sardonic social commentary on American life through her New York sensibilities. Some reviewers have called her a modern day Dorothy Parker.

After being expelled from high school and receiving a GED, Lebowitz worked many odd jobs before being hired by Andy Warhol as a columnist for Interview. This was followed by a stint at Mademoiselle. Her first book was a collection of essays titled Metropolitan Life, released in 1978, followed by Social Studies in 1981, both of which are collected (with a new introductory essay) in The Fran Lebowitz Reader.

For more than twenty years she has been famous in part for not writing Exterior Signs of Wealth, a long-overdue novel purportedly about rich people who want to be artists, and artists who want to be rich. She also made several appearances on Late Night With David Letterman during the early part of its run. Recently she has made recurring appearances as Judge Janice Goldberg on the television drama Law & Order.

In September 2007, Fran Lebowitz was named one of the year's most stylish women in Vanity Fair's 68th Annual International Best-Dressed List, The 68th Annual International Best-Dressed List: Entertainment & Culture: vanityfair.com and is known to sport tailored suits by the Savile Row tailor Anderson & Sheppard.

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"All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable.""Andy Warhol made fame more famous.""As a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you.""Ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying.""Being a woman is of special interest only to aspiring male transsexuals. To actual women, it is simply a good excuse not to play football.""Calling a taxi in Texas is like calling a rabbi in Iraq.""Children are the most desirable opponents at scrabble as they are both easy to beat and fun to cheat.""Contrary to popular opinion, the hustle is not a new dance step - it is an old business procedure.""Designer clothes worn by children are like snowsuits worn by adults. Few can carry it off successfully.""Do not, on a rainy day, ask your child what he feels like doing, because I assure you that what he feels like doing, you won't feel like watching.""Don't bother discussing sex with small children. They rarely have anything to add.""Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.""Food is an important part of a balanced diet.""Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.""Having been unpopular in high school is not just cause for book publications.""Humility is no substitute for a good personality.""I figure you have the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not.""I must take issue with the term 'a mere child,' for it has been my invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely preferable to that of a mere adult.""I never met anyone who didn't have a very smart child. What happens to these children, you wonder, when they reach adulthood?""I never took hallucinogenic drugs because I never wanted my consciousness expanded one unnecessary iota.""I place a high moral value on the way people behave. I find it repellent to have a lot, and to behave with anything other than courtesy in the old sense of the word - politeness of the heart, a gentleness of the spirit.""I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not.""If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater suggest that he wear a tail.""If you are of the opinion that the contemplation of suicide is sufficient evidence of a poetic nature, do not forget that actions speak louder than words.""If you are truly serious abut preparing your child for the future, don't teach him to subtract teach him to deduct.""If you're going to America, bring your own food.""In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.""In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy.""Life is something to do when you can't get to sleep.""My desire to curtail undue freedom of speech extends only to such public areas as restaurants, airports, streets, hotel lobbies, parks, and department stores. Verbal exchanges between consenting adults in private are as of little interest to me as they probably are to them.""My favorite animal is steak.""Nature is by and large to be found out of doors, a location where, it cannot be argued, there are never enough comfortable chairs.""No animal should ever jump up on the dining-room furniture unless absolutely certain that he can hold his own in the conversation.""Nothing succeeds like address.""Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not have possibly met.""Polite conversation is rarely either.""Radio news is bearable. This is due to the fact that while the news is being broadcast, the disk jockey is not allowed to talk.""Remember that as a teenager you are in the last stage of your life when you will be happy to hear the phone is for you.""Romantic love is mental illness. But it's a pleasurable one. It's a drug. It distorts reality, and that's the point of it. It would be impossible to fall in love with someone that you really saw.""Scientists - the crowd that for dash and style make the general public look like the Bloomsbury set.""Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.""Success didn't spoil me, I've always been insufferable.""The conversational overachiever is someone whose grasp exceeds his reach. This is possible but not attractive.""The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.""The telephone is a good way to talk to people without having to offer them a drink.""There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness or death. Any attempt to prove otherwise constitutes unacceptable behavior.""To put it rather bluntly, I am not the type who wants to go back to the land; I am the type who wants to go back to the hotel.""Vegetables are interesting but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat.""Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.""When you leave New York, you are astonished at how clean the rest of the world is. Clean is not enough.""You can't go around hoping that most people have sterling moral characters. The most you can hope for is that people will pretend that they do.""You're only as good as your last haircut.""Your life story would not make a good book. Don't even try."

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Fran Lebowitz", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0

Total Books: 24

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