Any government which made the welfare of men depend on the character of their governors was an illusion.

Until now when we have started to talk about the uniqueness of America we have almost always ended by comparing ourselves to Europe. Toward her we have felt all the attraction and repulsions of Oedipus

No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever.

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

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.

Disagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension. Dissent (which come from the Latin, dis and sentire) means originally to feel apart from others. People who disagree have an argument, but people who dissent have a quarrel. People may disagree and both may count themselves in the majority. But a person who dissents is by definition in a minority. A liberal society thrives on disagreement but is killed by dissension. Disagreement is the life blood of democracy, dissension is its cancer.

The world of crime is a last refuge of the authentic, uncorrupted, spontaneous event.