World events are the work of individuals whose motives are often frivolous, even casual.

What we are is seldom what we want to be, while what we want to be is either denied us or changes with the seasons.

Yet in a society of conflicting interests the only democratic way in which matters can be improved is through politics, and politics means the compromising of extremes in order to achieve that notorious half loaf which the passionate and the outraged never find sufficient.

There's no such thing as a war against terrorism. It's idiotic. These are slogans. These are lies. It's advertising, which is the only art form we ever invented and developed.

Christianity is such a silly religion.

Now you have people in Washington who have no interest in the country at all. They're interested in their companies, their corporations grabbing Caspian oil.

It is curious how often one prefers his enemies to his friends.