De Tocqueville considered the impulse toward well-being as one of the strongest impulses of a democratic society. He can't be blamed for underestimating the destructive powers generated by this same impulse.

A man may say, "From now on I'm going to speak the truth." But the truth hears him and runs away and hides before he's even done speaking.

Unexpected intrusions of beauty. This is what life is.

If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.

Any artist should be grateful for a naive grace which puts him beyond the need to reason elaborately.

California is like an artificial limb the rest of the country doesn't really need. You can quote me on that.

I don’t actually take much stock in the collapsing culture bit. I’m beginning to see it instead as the conduct of life without input from your soul.