Masochists are people that have pleasure confused with pain. In a world that has television confused with entertainment, doritoes confused with food, and Dan Quayle confused with a national political leader, masochists are clearly less mixed-up than the rest of us.

The Constitution is an equally forthright piece of work and quite succinct ... giving the complete operating instructions for a nation of 250 million people. The manual for a Toyota Camry, which only seats five, is four times as long.

It is a law of governance that democracies have to spend themselves dizzy. Citizens of democracies can, after all, tell their government to give them things.

I rarely meet a politician that I don't like personally. They are generally well endowed with charm. Therein lies the danger.

Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs.

Little islands of human happiness, peace, and prosperity are so exceptional at this point in history that I'm not even sure we can draw lessons from them.

Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.