Historical determinism is a recipe for political quietism.

Scratch a schoolboy and you find a savage.

I say that virtue is really all about enjoying yourself, living fully; but of course it is far from obvious what living fully actually means.

Most students of literature can pick apart a metaphor or spot an ethnic stereotype, but not many of them can say things like: 'The poem's sardonic tone is curiously at odds with its plodding syntax.

Negativity is often looked upon [in the USA] as a kind of thought crime. Not since the advent of socialist realism has the world witnessed such pathological upbeatness.

I value my Catholic background very much. It taught me not to be afraid of rigorous thought, for one thing.

Cynicism and naivety lie cheek by jowl in the American imagination; if the United States is one of the most venal nations on Earth, it is also one of the most earnestly idealistic.