The trouble with paternalists is that they want to make impossibly profound changes, and they choose impossibly superficial means for doing so.

Not TV or illegal drugs but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of American communities.

observation of realities has never, to put it mildly, been one of the strengths of economic development theory.

I think it is fatal to specialize. And all kinds of things show us that and that the more diverse we are in what we can do, the better.

It may be romantic to search for the salves of society's ills in slow-moving rustic surroundings, or among innocent, unspoiled provincials, if such exist, but it is a waste of time.

Reformers have long observed city people loitering on busy corners, hanging around in candy stores and bars and drinking soda popon stoops, and have passed a judgment, the gist of which is: "This is deplorable! If these people had decent homes and a more private or bosky outdoor place, they wouldn't be on the street!" That judgment represents a profound misunderstanding of cities. It makes no more sense than to drop in at a testimonial banquet in a hotel and conclude that if these people had wives who could cook, they would give their parties at home.

To science, not even the bark of a tree or a drop of pond water is dull or a handful of dirt banal. They all arouse awe and wonder.