There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who alphabetize their record collections, and the kind who don't.

The only thing more dangerous than an idea is a belief.

Along with voting, jury duty, and paying taxes, goofing off is one of the central obligations of American citizenship.

I probably am a cranky writer, but I am actually a fairly nice, normal person. Since I'm a grouchy writer, of course I have friends whose books are doing way better than mine.

When one of a culture's guiding credos is that "all men are created equal," any person who, say, becomes an expert on, say, nuclear weapons or, say, ecology, i.e., anyone who distinguishes himself through mental excellence, is a nuisance.

There are freaky talking mannequins in the Salem Witch Museum that recite the Lord's Prayer and while they do resemble shrunken apples they nevertheless help the visitor understand how hard it must have been for the condemned to say the line about forgiving those who trespass against us.

History is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between.