Hyperbole was to Lyndon Johnson what oxygen is to life.

When a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.

Sharing is the essence of teaching. It is, I have come to believe, the essence of civilization...Without it, the imagination is but the echo of the self, trapped in a soundproof chamber, reverberating upon itself until it is spent in exhaustion or futility.

The quality of democracy and the quality of journalism are deeply entwined.

...there is no more effective public interest watchdog in Washington, D.C.

Big money and big business, corporations and commerce, are again the undisputed overlords of politics and government. The White House, the Congress and, increasingly, the judiciary, reflect their interests. We appear to have a government run by remote control from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute. To hell with everyone else.

Our very lives depend on the ethics of strangers, and most of us are always strangers to other people.