Fiction does not spring into the world fully grown, like Athena. It is the process of writing and rewriting that makes a fiction original, if not profound.

When people are serving, life is no longer meaningless.

The image-managers encourage the individual to fashion himself into a smooth coin, negotiable in any market.

We know that where community exists in confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security. . . . Communities are the ground-level generators and preservers of values and ethical systems.

So childhood too feels good at first, before one happens to notice the terrible sameness, age after age.

Talking, talking. Spinning a web of words, pale walls of dreams, between myself and all I see.

The citizen can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.