When articulation is impossible, gesticulation comes to the rescue.

On the analogy of 'Dictionary Johnson,' we call Fred R. Shapiro, editor of the just-published Yale Book of Quotations (well worth the $50 price), 'Quotationeer Shapiro.' Shapiro does original research, earning his 1,067-page volume a place on the quotation shelf next to Bartlett's and Oxford's.

The most fun in breaking a rule is in knowing what rule you're breaking.

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

To be accused of 'channeling' is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist's live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one's own.

I could get a better education interviewing John Steinbeck than talking to an English professor about novels.

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.