The artist is the most interesting of all phenomena, for he represents creativity, the definition of man.

Commitment is a word invented in our abstract modernity to signify the absence of any real motives in the soul for moral dedication.

A new language always reflects a new point of view, and the gradual unconscious popularization of new words, or of old words used in new ways, is a sure sign of a profound change in people's articulation of the world.

Reason cannot establish values, and its belief that it can is the stupidest and most pernicious illusion.

Only Socrates knew, after a lifetime of unceasing labor, that he was ignorant. Now every high-school student knows that. How did it become so easy?

The students [of the 60's] substituted conspicuous compassion for their parents' conspicuous consumption.

Our Nation, a great stage for the acting out of great thoughts, presents the classic confrontation between Locke's views of the state of nature and Rousseau's criticism of them... Nature is raw material, worthless without the mixture of human labor; yet nature is also the highest and most sacred thing. The same people who struggle to save the snail-darter bless the pill, worry about hunting deer and defend abortion. Reverence for nature, mastery of nature- whichever is convenient.