Democracy will never be supplanted by a republic of experts—and that is a very good thing.

Wealth is so concentrated that a large segment of society is virtually unaware of its existence.

We want capitalism and market forces to be the slave of democracy rather than the opposite.

It's important to realize that innovation and growth in itself are not sufficient to moderate inequality of wealth.

When inequality gets to an extreme, it is completely useless for growth.

Our modern democratic ideal is based on the hope that inequalities will be based on merit more than inheritance or luck.

No hypocrisy is too great when economic and financial elites are obliged to defend their interest.

Over a long period of time, the main force in favor of greater equality has been the diffusion of knowledge and skills.

Indeed, the distribution of wealth is too important an issue to be left to economists, sociologists, historians, and philosophers.

At the heart of every major political upheaval lies a fiscal revolution.

I don't think there is any serious evidence that we need to be paying people more than 100 times the average wage in order to get high-performing managers.

If a man has a capacity for great thoughts, he is likely to overtake them before he is decrepit.

It's a funny thing, the less people have to live for, the less nerve they have to risk losing nothing.

I'm interested in the hope we invest in science, and the disappointment we can feel when science flattens, or 'explains,' the larger mysteries of religion.

The Word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.

The best way to live is by not knowing what will happen to you at the end of the day.

If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.

The great end of all arts is to make an impression on the imagination and the feeling. The imitation of nature frequently does this. Sometimes it fails and something else succeeds.

God bless pop music and God bless MTV.

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.

I awoke from The Sickness at the age of forty-five, calm and sane, and in reasonably good health except for a weakened liver and the look of borrowed flesh common to all who survive The Sickness.