Human sacrifice is much in vogue right now. The Republican right thinks that people who get on its nerves, especially women, should be sent to the stake. . .

And the propensity of weak and empty people to follow a leader into the darkness from which there is no return is still flourishing, as ever.

If there is a secret to writing, I haven’t found it yet. All I know is you need to sit down, clear your mind, and hang in there.

You need the will to disarm the civilian population. If we can do it in Somalia, we can do it here.

I am hoping for better times. That's how you know us hapless gardeners - by our dirty fingernails and our absurd, unquenchable optimism about next year.

[On men:] On their best days, the best of them are eight years old.

We have a new class in this country: the deserving rich. ... The deserving rich do nice things for each other. Comforting the unafflicted is something that comes naturally to them.