Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.

I welcome new words, or old words used in new ways, provided the result is more precision, added color or greater expressiveness.

A reader ought to be able to hold it and become familiar with its organized contents and make it a mind's manageable companion.

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.

I was standing next to a famed geo-politician when the first news of the Argentine attack [on the Faulkland Islands] was received, and heard him muse incredulously: "An old-fashioned naval battle. A war between two civilized nations, perhaps with even a declaration of war, and later a peace conference. Wow." No hostages, no nukes, no ideologies, no religious fanaticism; just a fair-and-square war over national interests - hard to believe, in this day and age.

The Republicans do not look on the Democrats as the evil empire.

When your government, employer, landlord, merchant, banker and local sports team gang up to picture, digitize and permanently record your every activity, you are placed under unprecedented control.