Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.

Freud said he didn't know what women wanted. I know what women want. They want a whole lot of people to talk to.

Hardly anyone in the world is an American

Fathers are always so proud the first time they see their sons in uniform," she said. "I know Big John Karpinski was," I said. He is my neighbor to the north, of course. Big John's son Little John did badly in high school, and the police caught him selling dope. So he joined the Army while the Vietnam War was going on. And the first time he came home in uniform, I never saw Big John so happy, because it looked to him as though Little John was all straightened out and would amount to something. But then Little John came home in a body bag.

It's perfectly ordinary to be a socialist. It's perfectly normal to be in favor of fire departments.

Words may deeply wound us, but we must run that risk to be free.

You've got to be a good date for the reader.