With politicians, artful evasion is always preferable to the outright lie.

Bad policies, stupid policies, gutless policies have real consequences.

Freedom fighters don't always win, but they're always right.

It's hard to argue against cynics - they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.

It is quite reasonable to subscribe both to the old saw that no good girl was ever ruined by a book and to the perception that it is not good for children to be constantly exposed to the sexual violence in our popular culture. Protecting children seems to me logically, legally, and rather easily differentiated from censorship.

The charm of Ronald Reagan is not just that he kept telling us screwy things, it was that he believed them all. No wonder we trusted him, he never lied to us. ... His stubbornness, even defiance, in the face of facts ('stupid things,' he once called them in a memorable slip) was nothing short of splendid. ... This is the man who proved that ignorance is no handicap to the presidency.

In city rooms and in the bars where newspeople drink, you can find out what's going on. You can't find it in the papers.