Disagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension.

Reading is like the sex act - done privately, and often in bed.

There's something beautifully soothing about a fact — even (or perhaps especially) if we're not sure what it means.

The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource, adding color and suspense to all our life.

The hero was distinguished by his achievement; the celebrity by his image or trademark. The hero created himself; the celebrity is created by the media. The hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name.

Of all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody's image. It was the land of the unexpected, of unbounded hope, of ideals, of quest for an unknown perfection. It is all the more unfitting that we should offer ourselves in images. And all the more fitting that the images which we make wittingly or unwittingly to sell America to the world should come back to haunt and curse us.

American civilization, from its beginnings, had combined a dogmatic confidence in the future with a naive puzzlement over what the future might bring.