Optimism is a matter optics, of seeing what you want to see and not seeing what you don't want to see. Hope, on the other hand, is a Christian virtue. It is the unblinking acknowledgment of all that militates against hope, and the unrelenting refusal to despair. We have not the right to despair, and, finally, we have not the reason to despair

Consumerism is, quite precisely, the consuming of life by the things consumed. It is living in a manner that is measured by having rather than being... and consumerism is hardly the sin of the rich. The poor, driven by discontent and envy, may be as consumed by what they do not have as the rich are consumed by what they do have. The question is not, certainly not most importantly, a question about economics. It is first and foremost a cultural and moral problem requiring a cultural and moral remedy.

Socialism is the religion people get when they lose their religion.

My eyes are wide open to the conflicts within the Church, but I don't think you can call it schism.

One must never underestimate the profound bigotry and anti-intellectualism and intolerance and illiberality of liberalism.

In the absence of truth, power is the only game in town.

The first thing to say about politics is that politics is not the first thing.