For those of us who consider ourselves political moderates, life is a dispiriting slog, a sorry mix of rectitude and ineptitude.

Novel writing should never be confused with journalism. Unfortunately, in the case of Primary Colors, a fair number of journalists confused.

Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.

Affirmative action was always racial justice on the cheap.

Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.

Dictating to dictators doesn't work; they are congenitally delusional about their own indispensability.

Bush promised a foreign policy of humility and a domestic policy of compassion. He has given us a foreign policy of arrogance and a domestic policy that is cynical, myopic and cruel.

Anonymous sources are a practice of American journalism in the 20th and 21st century, a relatively recent practice. The literary tradition of anonymity goes back to the Bible.

I've been described as a grizzled political veteran.

You can't get all of your news from Jon Stewart, especially since it's a comedy show.

We journalists are never so idiotic as when we analyze things that we shouldn't be analyzing.

Let your instincts guide you through life, and your eyes see the way through.

Life is one long decay, no? There's a lot of beauty in it. Like the patina in an old city.

I watched so many movies when I was a kid, and I'd watch them over and over.

The cost of justice can be justly paid only by the invader.

I was called Rembrandt Hope in my boxing days, because I spent so much time on the canvas.

Is there any other way to be? I mean, this is it. This is my body, my soul; I gotta live with it. I'd better get comfortable. I plan on taking it for a long ride.

The most beautiful fighting machine I have ever seen

Are you looking for gold, friend? Look around you; anything useful to you is pure gold, pure silver!

It's the team that matters. Where would The Beatles be without Ringo. If John got Yoko to play drums the history of music would be completely different.

It's a tough job to tell a story when the audience already knows the ending, and the ending is bleak.