An idol tells people exactly what to believe, God presents them with choices they have to make for themselves. The difference is far from insignificant; before the idol men remain dependent children, before God they are burdened and at the same time liberated to participate in the decisions of endless creation.

Americans don't speak foreign languages, by and large. Their interest in anything beyond the borders of the country is limited. A European of any cultivation has to speak a couple of languages; he inevitably without being very thoughtful about it gets to understand what other people think about him.

People do look to others for some leadership, and it's not bad for them to supply it when they feel that way.

It may be that even if half consciously, we choose our personalities to maintain a certain saving balance in the family's little universe.

A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence.

And old Dave, he'd go up to his room, y'understand, put on his green velvet slippers - I'll never forget - and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could want.

The word "now" is like a bomb through the window, and it ticks.