As Brooks Adams put it, the sole problem of our ruling class is whether to coerce or to bribe the powerless majority.

Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.

Politically, of course, it's to the Right, but then the whole country is to the Right.

When Ronald Reagan's career in show business came to an end, he was hired to impersonate, first, a California governor and then an American president who would reduce taxes for his employers, the Southern and Western New Rich, much of whose money came from the defence industries. There is nothing unusual about this arrangement. All recent presidents have had their price-tags.

As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.

Freud did some serious damage to American literature - a lot of writers began therapy in the 1940s, after which they all became terribly egocentric.