Tough guys don't dance. You had better believe it.

Everything wrong with America led to the point where the country built that tower of Babel, which consequently had to be destroyed. And then came the next shock. We had to realize that the people that did this were brilliant. It showed that the ego we could hold up until September 10 was inadequate.

A modern democracy is a tyranny whose borders are undefined; one discovers how far one can go only by traveling in a straight line until one is stopped.

I take it for granted that there's a side of me that loves public action, and there's another side of me that really wants to be alone and work and write. And I've learned to alternate the two as matters develop.

There's nothing glorious about being a professional. . . . Professionalism probably comes down to being able to work on a bad day.

Over-certified adjectives are the mark of most best-seller writing

A really good style comes only when a man has become as good as he can be. Style is character. A good style cannot come from a bad undisciplined character.