As long as my sixth graders showed an average improvement of five years, the principal and district pretty much left me alone to create my own curriculum and teach whatever I wanted

As for the depiction of the Catholic church, it's not meant to be a prediction

It occurs to me that our survival may depend upon our talking to one another.

The Great Change is when humankind accepts its role as part of the natural order of the universe instead of its role as a cancer

Words are the only bullets in truth's bandolier. And poets are the snipers.

If everyone could understand the working of a psychopath's mind, we undoubtedly would be closer to insanity ourselves.

Nobody gets beyond a petroleum economy. Not while there's petroleum there.

Seduction... was both a science and art - a blend of skill, discipline, proximity, and opportunity. Mostly proximity.

Poets are the mad midwives to reality. They see not what is, nor what can be, but what must become.

History viewed from the inside is always a dark, digestive mess, far different from the easily recognizable cow viewed from afar by historians.

The shortest route to courage is absolute ignorance.

Even as a solid rock is unshaken by the wind, so are the wise unshaken by praise or blame.

When ‘my’ and ‘I’ are gone, it is known as a state free of wrong beliefs (nirvikalp)!

Art in the classroom not only spurs creativity, it also inspires learning.

The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.

I've been a conservative in West Virginia before that was popular. I've seen a change in West Virginia. Not a change in John Raese, but a change in West Virginia and a change in America.

Politics is a contest among people of diverse backgrounds and philosophies, advocating different solutions to common problems. The system only works when principled, energetic people participate.

The two ingredients in success in basketball are playing hard and playing intelligently.

I was the only white kid in my neighborhood for most of my youth even in high school, so reverse racism was just as apparent as racism.

I didn’t want any flowers, I only wanted to lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty. How free it is, you have no idea how free.

Every once in a while I feel the tremendous force of the novel. But it does not stay with me.