I grew up in the sort of cultural milieu that always regarded conversations about the political discourse as tremendously low-brow.

Tragedy, as you know, is always a fait accompli, whereas terror always has to do with anticipation, with man's recognition of hisown negative potential--with his sense of what he is capable of.

It's rather an exhilarating feeling. It's 6 or 7 when you get up and go out into the fields wearing your Wellingtons or high boots. You know that at this very hour half the nation does the same thing, which gives you, with the benefit of hindsight, a satisfaction in doing those things, too, a knowledge, a sense of the nation. I was a city boy until then.

I always adhered to the idea that God is time, or at least that His spirit is.

Racism? But isn't it only a form of misanthropy?

Cherish your human connections: your relationships with friends and family. Even your super weirdo creep cousin.

The moment that you place blame somewhere, you undermine your resolve to change anything.