If you think success is about so many more things and is so much more arbitrary, then you can be much more open to the idea that you can be Ben Fountain and publish your great book at forty-nine.

Success is not a random act. It arises out of a predictable and powerful set of circumstances and opportunities.

A book, I was taught long ago in English class, is a living and breathing document that grows richer with each new reading.

Humans socialize in the largest groups of all primates because we are the only animals with brains large enough to handle the complexities of that social arrangement.

Through embracing the diversity of humans beings, we will find a sure way to true happiness.

We vary greatly in the natural advantages that we've been given. The world's not fair

There is nothing more common than critics of journalists accusing them of practicing journalism. It is our function in the world to take things that are complicated and render them in a form that non-experts can follow and make sense of.