Self-censorship, the most important and most successful form of censorship, is rampant. Debate is identified with dissent, which is in turn identified with disloyalty. There is a widespread feeling that, in this new, open-ended emergency, we may not be able to 'afford' our traditional freedoms.

Ambition, if it feeds at all, does so on the ambition of others.

Enemies are somewhere else, as the fighting is almost always “over there,” with Islamic fundamentalism now replacing Russian and Chinese communism as the implacable, furtive menace. And “terrorist” is a more flexible word than “communist.” It can unify a larger number of quite different struggles and interests. What this may mean is that the war will be endless---since there will always be some terrorism.

Art is not only about something; it is something. A work of art is a thing in the world, not just a text or commentary on the world.

I discovered that I am tired of being a person. Not just tired of being the person I was, but any person at all

Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.

Standing alone, photographs promise an understanding they cannot deliver. In the company of words, they take on meaning, but they slough off one meaning and take on another with alarming ease.