I am beguiled by your physical beauty, and I am moved by how head-over-heels in love with books you are. And nowhere else have I found such thoughtful and literate reportage on the state of the American soul, as that soul makes itself known in the books we write.

Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is.

In 1844, Karl Marx said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He said this at a time when opium and opium derivatives were the only painkillers. And he said it helped a little. He might as well have said, "Religion is the aspirin of the people."

So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.

There is nothing left of him but curiosity and a pair of eyes.

If you really want to hurt your parents and you don't have nerve enough to be homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts.

Please — a little less love, and a little more common decency.