The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.

I don't know - is everything the U.S. does a shocking embarrassment?

Every novel deals with social problems. It can't help it because the protagonist must come in conflict with his group. So the author has to offer an analysis of how the group and the protagonist fit. Otherwise, the reader will just say, "This makes no sense," and will put it away.

English majors understand human nature better than economists do.

When I went to first grade and the other children said that their fathers were farmers, I simply didn't believe them. I agreed in order to be polite, but in my heart I knew that those men were impostors, as farmers and as fathers, too. In my youthful estimation, Laurence Cook defined both categories. To really believe that others even existed in either category was to break the First Commandment.

Gossip. The more you talk about why people do things, the more ideas you have about how the world works.

I think that the Cold War was an exceptional and unnecessary piece of cruelty.