The injunction to be nice is used to deflect criticism and stifle the legitimate anger of dissent.

Occasions when you can change your mind should be cherished, because they mean you're smarter than you were before.

The act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty.

Without the New York Times, there is no blog community. They'd have nothing to blog about.

There is more going on beneath the surface than we think, and more going on in little, finite moments of time than we would guess.

It is those who are successful, in other words, who are most likely to be given the kinds of special opportunities that lead to further success. It’s the rich who get the biggest tax breaks. It’s the best students who get the best teaching and most attention. And it’s the biggest nine- and ten-year-olds who get the most coaching and practice. Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage.

When writing, you can't break physical rules. You can't have people come back from the dead. That's cheating. I am a kind of narrative fundamentalist in many ways.