Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea what's really going on.

While on the subject of burning books, I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than have to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles. So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.

What war has always been is a puberty ceremony. It's a very rough one, but you went away a boy and came back a man, maybe with an eye missing or whatever but godammit you were a man and people had to call you a man thereafter.

The world is full of people who are very clever at seeming much smarter than they really are.

You know, the Emancipation Proclamation was like giving freedom to domestic animals.

And a step backward, after making a wrong turn, is a step in the right direction.

That’s the secret of artistic unity. Anybody can achieve it, if he or she will make something with only one person in mind.