Books gave us a way to shape ourselves - to form our thoughts and to signal to each other who we were and who we wanted to be. They were part of our self-fashioning, no less than our clothes.

My longest love affair: with a book.

The best education for a writer, I think, is to read a lot - college can be a good place to do that.

A book may not tell us exactly how to live our own lives, but our own lives can teach us how to read a book.

My master's degree was in journalism, but everything important I ever learned about being a journalist I learned on the job.

I think it's a terrible mistake to only think in terms of a degree "buying" you something.

I'm not a policy expert - I am only arguing that there is more to an education than an economic ticket.

Best qualification for an aspiring journalist is curiosity.

Know your real Self, beyond who you think you are.

I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.

Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

The idea of public reason isn't about the right answers to all these questions, but about the kinds of reasons that they ought to be answered by.

I would love to study cultures and people.

To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society.

The truth is I hate cocktail parties when the only person I know is my supposed date, and he abandons me the minute we come in the door.

I was very struck when Min. Farrakhan said if Jesus and Muhammad were here today, they'd be embracing each other. That's a tremendous message that needs to be heard more broadly.

The Old (Testament) is in the New (Testament) revealed, the New is in the Old concealed.