America is about class. To pretend that it isn't is very ignorant. No society has ever existed without some kind of a ruling class.

Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors.

Seeking the invisible through the imagery of the visible, the Americans never can get quite all the way to the end of the American dream.

The survival of American democracy depends less on the size of its armies than on the capacity of its individual citizens to rely... on the strength of their own thought.

If in the well and truly made martini DeVoto finds "water of life" and the blessing to the spirit, so also DeVoto's The Hour brings to its readers the breath of life and a vision of themselves made generous, indomitable and wise.

A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn't enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong.

People may expect too much of journalism. Not only do they expect it to be entertaining, they expect it to be true.