The Veil

"There's always this veil. That's why we like a striptease. Because, there's an implication, that you should never give the show completely away. There's always got to be a little bit of a veil left. There always is. Because even if you find the striptease artist gets completely naked, there's really something hidden. What's the motivation? What sort of a person is she? Would I really like to embrace her? Or would she have bad breath? [laughter]

You know? Or something. You never really know. You never really get to the bottom. That's why all men poets say that women are basically mysterious. And they ought to be! So are men, basically, mysterious. From women's point of view. Although they play that they're not. See, this is the way that it goes: men are supposed to be very open and they say, “Well,” of a certain situation, “this is the way it is, after all, it's perfectly rational, it's a matter of practical affairs.” And women say, “Well, I'm not as articulate as you are, but I know there's something you've left out but I can't explain it.”

And by this means, everything is kept going. [laughter]"