A book should have an intellectual shape and a heft that comes with dealing with a primary subject.

Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'

The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.

Adapt your style, if you wish, to admit the color of slang or freshness of neologism, but hang tough on clarity, precision, structure, grace.

Took me a while to get to the point today, but that is because I did not know what the point was when I started.

One challenge to the arts in America is the need to make the arts, especially the classic masterpieces, accessible and relevant to today's audience.

Never look for the story in the 'lede.' Reporters are required to put what's happened up top, but the practiced pundit places a nugget of news, even a startling insight, halfway down the column, directed at the politiscenti. When pressed for time, the savvy reader starts there.