Everyone starts out being an atheist. No one is born with belief in anything. Infants are atheists until they are indoctrinated.

I dislike loud-mouthed patriots who suggest they like our country more than I do. Some people's idea of patriotism is hating other countries.

Writers don't often say anything that readers don't already know, unless its a news story. A writer's greatest pleasure is revealing to people things they knew but did not know they knew. Or did not realize everyone else knew, too. This produces a warm sense of fellow feeling and is the best a writer can do.

I am not retiring. Writers don't retire. Writers never stop writing.

Everyone hates war, everyone says.

One of the things we can be sure of over the July 4th weekend is that news reports will keep telling us how many of us are going to die in automobile accidents.

My own time is passing fast enough without some national game to help it along.